After what we talked about in class, I started to think about how social media really can be a platform to initiate change. This week, as some of you have mentioned too, the buzz on Twitter was all about Amber Rose and Khloe Kardashian's feud. Considering neither of these women have real careers, I'm not sure what they could possibly be fighting over.
Anyway, this just shows that using social media can extend an idea to the masses. I wonder how different the world would be if celebrities used the advantage they are given to use the social media platforms for good. What if celebrities posted educated tweets, regarding today's social issues? I know I would definitely respect them more. I think there would also be a stronger push for change throughout the world.
Before taking my rant public, I would want to edit it and make it more clear. For example, on Twitter you only have 140 characters! So I would have to make sure I got all the important things in, while still having it be easy to understand.
My rant is about overweight people using the motorized shopping carts at stores. This might sound mean or harsh, but please listen to my reasoning behind it first. My grandfather has had double knee replacement surgery, twice. He physically cannot walk around a store, trust me, if he could, he would absolutely love to. There have been instances where we had to actually wait to start our shopping because there were not any of the motorized carts left. When one was finally returned, the person on the cart was not disabled, they were overweight. They got off the cart and walked to their car just fine. I was so frustrated because my grandpa actually needs this cart and someone who doesn't is taking advantage of it.
I read the following article about this topic:
http://www.escapefromobesity.net/2010/06/walmart-cart.html
This actually shifted my thinking about what I was ranting about. I still do get upset about the fact that my grandfather couldn't take advantage of something he needed because someone else was unnecessarily using it, but, this article showed that you never really know what someone is going through. You don't know why they're overweight or the ailments that obesity may cause them. Everyone needs to and is entitled to, go shopping. If someone is overweight but they cannot walk around the grocery store because they have arthritis, they should be able to have assistance in doing their shopping.
I also read this basic definition of a motorized shopping cart and what its use is intended for:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorized_shopping_cart
Obesity is a really big topic in society today. So I think there are many platforms one could use to promote change in this category. Social media would be a great platform in this case. People from the ages of 13-40+ use Twitter/Facebook, etc. By posting your thoughts to Twitter, you are able to express your idea for change to a broad spectrum of people of all ages. Also, by using social media, you are able to get your ideas out there worldwide. If someone was to put an ad in a newspaper, only the local citizens would see it. To produce change, there requires a large population to support the change.
As I stated in class, it is hard, on the internet, to interpret text the exact way in which the author intended it to be interpreted. That is because everyone is different, everyone perceives things differently and when someone cannot physically hear your voice and see your reactions, their mind is left to its own devices in creating your "voice" and interpreting the feelings behind your words. However, this may also be a benefit of using social media. People are completely free to generate their own thoughts and feelings on the topic. People do not like to be bossed around and when they can create their own opinions without any social repercussions it can be a positive thing.
This is definitely a really cool project because when you are in the middle of ranting, you want to hear nothing contrary to your personal opinion. This project gave us a chance to pinpoint something that bothered us, rant about it and then basically evaluate what we thought about it and research the other side of things as well.
Thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment