Once upon a time I wanted to be a journalist. Then newspapers died and I realized that writing articles for fantasy football websites wasn't exactly the career I envisioned.
I am very curious about how we as a society consume information. It's very personalized and streamlined for maximum visibility. The more cat videos you click on the, the more cat videos appear for future viewing.
The downside of this give-em-what-they-want media is that we tend to only consume media content (videos, articles, tweets, etc) if we're confident that we're going to agree with the content. If we see information coming from a source that has proven to treat 'villains' like 'heros', then we ignore it. If it comes from a source we are sure will reinforce our notions of what is right and wrong, we take it as fact.
The problem is not that we have too many sources of information (news, opinions, etc.). The problem is that we can't tell the difference between biased and unbiased sources. We have a greater collective knowledge than at any other time in our history, but it's mostly made up of opinions and rhetoric designed to stimulate the audience rather than to inform it.
Articles are written to entice emotional reactions. Readers are more likely to write a comment if they're emotionally engaged. Articles are 'shared' when they create an emotional reaction strong enough for the reader to want to be personally attached to the content.
I don't know where I'm going with this first post I'm writing, let alone where I'm going with this entire blog. I just know I need an outlet and Facebook posts are too constrictive and they stress me out.
I'm excited to read your thoughts! You don't have to apologize for sharing your mind, you have at least one person who will listen. Well two, because we both know Ron will love this! ❤
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