Myka Nellas Sept.

___, 2017

XII Leibniz SN 27

Media as a Digital Conundrum

Living in the digital age makes our lives easier especially when it comes to network and
communication, we talk with people miles away from us with just a click of a button and in an instant we
get a live update and a live statement. But not everything that the internet has to offer is advantageous
and easy, it also comes with the burden of being shackled by it. As a teenager I have tried every social
media site, every application, and every trend that the internet has to offer and sometimes we get lost
in the web. What are medias side effects on us? What has it offered us but continues to affect our lives
negatively? In this world where we value likes more than morality, where we value compliments more
than passion - where do we stand?

In Oda Lindholms Tedx talk she tackles the subject of how technology has become a must in
households and how kids have easy access to media as early as primary school. People spend an average
of three to four hours on the internet scrolling down other peoples posts, and we are hooked on it like
a drug. New media negatively affects us in a psychological sense; we align ourselves with other peoples
lives than we do with ours. Oda Lindholm talks about media changing the perspective of reality, what is
real and who shapes, forms, and controls it. Her statement has astounded me, everything we see on
the internet is neither true nor fake everything is constructed yet everything you see is real.

I believe the internet has sparked one of the most inspiring, and closest to my heart, movement:
Feminism. Because of bogus views on beauty and how fashion companies always objectify women,
posting pictures of partially clothed skinny women. I remember when I was in the seventh grade, new to
the internet and new to social media. I always found myself looking at pictures of models and how
beautiful they were and how grandiose their lifestyles were, I felt as if I wasnt enough and that my life
should be better. I began to lose confidence and looked up to other girls who looked prettier. This is
what media does to children, especially female children. Allowing us to compare ourselves to models
that get paid to look good, to teenage vloggers who are rich and well-off, to people who we dont know
yet we watch on the screen religiously hoping to become them. Media has destroyed us, our perspective
and us and our perspective to the world. We become blinded by the limited view of our screens and we
truly forget the real picture. There is something out there other than what other people think of us,
there are greater things we can do and others cant. Media is constricting our perception of being and it
only tightens its grip on us every time we stray away from our beliefs. Media is a catalyst for hate and
self-degradation, for racism and inequality. We must fight for ourselves and for the truth.

As a Filipino citizen I am dismayed by my fellow citizens actions on social media. We often

forget our demeanor online and we use profanity and immoral acts to vent out what we want to say.
And there will always be people who will put themselves on the higher ground and look down on the
others of the lower social status. There are politicians who pay media to only broadcast what they want
the citizens to see, black propagandas that are igniting more chaos than putting out fire. If only we
would wake ourselves up from our narrow-minded perspectives to see what is really going on in the
world. If only we could value equality more than the likes on our profile pictures, if only we could use
our creativity and humor to bring about awareness on media - maybe then would our country be truly
successful.