Once somebody said, “Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains”. So, unless you are a millennial like me, you will probably know that the quote is Rousseau’s opening sentence of The Social Contract, written in 1762, explaining how man has evolved from being free and cheerful and living in the forest to the modern condition, dominated by inequality, dependency, violence and unhappiness. Stating that, my point is even today when we have the power to act and possess the right to speak as we like, ubiquitous media control us. However, everyone has some sort of bias and it does as well.
Media is known for forming opinions on different topics by constantly giving updates on occurring events. Some truths are told, yet there is a massive amount of misinformation. The whole world depends on these sources to make decisions ranging from choosing your daily outfit to voting for the next national elections. Thus, the job of media becomes very crucial. Though it seems that nowadays it has forgotten its major purpose.
As we all know, media is connectivity; people from anywhere can connect with anyone, regardless their social status or outlook. Furthermore, it is very easy to learn from experts through social media and that can significantly boost your work flow and knowledge in any field. From farmers to teachers, students to lawyers every individual in the society of mankind can benefit from the media and its awareness spreading factor. The main thing that we gleefully accept is the fact that media is free, hence, affordable to many. But don’t we actually pay a certain price in order to stay informed? Hackers, cyberbullies, scammers. Everyone has the opportunity to take part and enlarge the already humongous pool of information that the media is formed of.
Me, just like everybody else is affected by this beautiful illusion called media. Therefore, in this dynamic world we need responsible news sources that don’t cross ethical lines and give opinions based on evidence instead of mere view points and self-beliefs.
by: Radost Deneva