Community is changing, but is alive and well on the Internet. Online media and social networks help people connect with each other and support community. (e.g. Hampton and Wellman, 2018) – Disagree.

Community is constantly changing and adapting to suit the present. Technology is constantly evolving to allow advancement. In today’s society, technology is formulating the basis of communication and connections between people. It is often argued that new technologies may contribute to the decline of relationships and actual physical or verbal contact between individuals. Through online media and social networks there has been a new perception of creating ways to communicate and support communities but has allowed a loss of the basic forms of human interaction. With social networks being accessible with the click of a button anywhere at anytime, the ability to communicate through text messages, calls or video calls have made communication even easier than before. As well as the ability to share posts and stories, which make anyone who follows an individual able to view what has been shared. There is a relationship between community and technology, that is so interconnected in which these two concepts may work together in an element that may be detrimental to society. With so much accessibility comes a consequence for using these social media networks to negatively impact community and the ways that information is shared. From problems arising such as a loss of traditional community, decline in human social interaction in a face-to-face manner, spreading of false information as well as the introduction of moral panic.

The conception of a traditional community dimming through the introduction of social networks and media is supported by the advancement of communication through online laneways. According to Taylor Dotson (2017), around the time there was a popularity rise of the internet, the perceived decline of community was due to technology. In this article Dotson (2017), relates the connection of social and networked individualism to be an outcome of technologies that do not dispassionate socialism. Individuality is questioned and communication is encouraged but not in a social interaction, more so online. According to Hampton (2011), there is a promotion of local community, that not only influences communities online but allows forming connection with people offline as well. In contrast to Dotson, who argues that a trade off is needed in order to advance in technology. A romanticized idealisation of community is presented within relationships, such as with family members and friends. An idea of meeting people through your day in instances such as walking through the city or socialising in neighbourhoods. These relationships were often close knit and conformed to specific communities or groups of people that were closed off from others. This is lost through the advancement in online communication. Through a 1900’s romanticisation before the internet, there has been the creation of not only social media but online dating networks such as: hinge, tinder and bumble or friend making apps like yubo and wink. These websites encourage making interactions with individuals that may be countries apart, or cities away. The concept of these apps also allow people to form connections with others they may never meet, which promotes a loss of community. According to Sunstein (2009), through social media “echo chambers” we created, where connections based upon other similarities rather than only beliefs. The argument stands that the introduction of social media networking has allowed formation of connections to individuals, through creation of opportunities to meet others and giving relationships an easier form of communication that may eliminate in person social interactions. Social networks have formulated a gateway to starting conversations and building relationships with anybody at any location but have taken away the actual physical relationship building.

A person’s identity is moulded by how one is raised, through who they associate and surround themselves with, which then spans into their interests and how they spend their time. Hampton and Wellman (2018) argue that before the hatred of social media emerged, there was anti-urban beliefs. Thus supporting the idea that community fears the idea of social interactions in different ways from what they are accustomed to. Social media has gained information through analytics to connect people with similarities within interests and beliefs in order to increase engagement. This is an important concept to media companies as it influences users to spend more time online as what appears on their social media is what the user actually enjoys to see. Rather than posts that they have no interest in or know nothing about. Within today’s society, especially during a time of the Corona Virus, engagement online increased due to people being forced to isolate in their homes as well as finding an interest in the news around the pandemic and information from the government. Social media platforms, utilises fear of the virus to spread and amplify specific information related to the issue. With this the term “fake news” rose in popularity where information would be misinterpreted and then spread online. An amplification of fake news in the media especially through social networks meddled with narratives, and with the overall reach of social media being such a large demographic, data sets could reach over “8 million comments over a span of 45 days” announced by (et al). Through social media a person is allowed to enable access to other people who may have similar interests as them. This is portrayed during the creation of a social media account where a user is shown options based upon certain interests such as sports, beauty, music. A person is then enabled to find others who enjoy the same things under the “based on people you follow” tabs or “similar to you” tabs. By utilising interaction patterns social media platforms gain access to particular forms of data to allow a personalised experience. With the problem involving fake news, users with engagement following the COVID-19 pandemic topic were exposed to material that was misleading on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Through social button cues, spreading through sharing, retweeting and liking gave information more exposure. Questionable information was being amplified. This may also be seen as an invasion of privacy as it is so personalised that users question where the data is stored and who has access to it. With community changing at the rate it is, it has found a life source on the internet. Community is much more alive on the internet nowadays, especially during a time of a pandemic like COVID-19 where users are much more active due to daily lives being mainly at home rather than work and school. Individuals have more free time to browse online due to isolation. A community is built online where those with similar interests are able to find each other at an extraordinary rate, but it has also allowed others to take advantage of this. In ways where false information based on popular interests and news stories can be manipulated and altered. Narratives are easily change and fake news spread faster due to online media platforms. This promotes a lack of trust and community.

Apart from a person’s interests, people’s beliefs are also a large contribution to who they associate themselves with and the communities they are involved in. In present society, social media has become such a large outlet for news to be consumed. There has been an increase of younger generations using platforms as their sources of information. By saying this, there is also a higher chance for younger people to be subjected to false information resulting in consequences, such as; younger people misunderstanding what is actually going on in society and their lives. According to Boczkowski, P. J., Mitchelstein, E., & Matassi, M. (2018), there are “derivative information routines” and also mention the problems associated with social filtering and algorithms. Social media uses algorithms based upon interests, once searching up a news article a user is given articles or posts that may be similar to what they had just searched. These incidental news consumption moments are one of the ways social media has jeopardise the news industry. Most news outlets are not accessed anymore due to youth finding information online. As stated by Elizabeth Porter (2014), the “Law has been trapped in a stylistic straitjacket. The Internet has revolutionized media and communications, replacing text with a dizzying array of multimedia graphics and images”. Commercial web led to the popularisation of social media and exposure. On social media, the perception of “realness” has been distorted due to photoshopping images to fit beauty standards or to create fake news stories and problems. Photoshopping images in order to fit a beauty standard has become popular due to social media influencers and celebrities, where individuals attempt to mirror their actions. This has led to certain issues revolving body dysmorphia and even catfishing, according to J. D. Swerzenski (2021) , visual manipulation creates difficulties in distinguishing “meme from misinformation”.

By practicing such a constant use of online media younger people are put in situations where they are unable to form physical relationships without utilising technology a majority of the time, there is difficulty in having face to face conversations and understanding the basis of society and communication. With this being said, most communication nowadays is online, but the problem associated with this is that youth are unable to communicate as smoothly as they do online – where one is able to hide behind a screen. Perception and lies are common within primarily utilising social media platforms to communicate, catfishing being a frequent problem. According to Hampton and Wellman (2018), through the rise of the internet social ties were complicated during important life events, for example graduations, job changes, marriages, parenthood and divorce. All of which are important life events that circulate around a basis of personal contact and relationship building. The rise of social media has created densely knit and disposable relationships. Networked individualism had created a barrier to relationship building and basic interactions. With communication technologies withholding systems of “friend lists” or followers, ties are created between people that may not actually know each other in real life but more so are people who are mutual or others who just recognise the content that an individual posts. Pervasive awareness, as mentioned by Hampton and Wellman (2018), is a result from the availability of social ties created by media platforms. This concept is often linked to mainly being a form of formal surveillance. As there is a similarity to traditional communication, it enhances the negative aspects of it, such as gossip. This is due to an increase of visibility through online profiles, whether accounts be public where anyone can view accounts or private where people are given the opportunity to choose who views their content. Dotson (2017) argues that a networked community magnifies the struggles of those who do not handle networked individualism. With some of the content showing up on timelines being out of our control, it may be difficult to protect individuals from what they see online. Such as explicit content or content that people simply do not enjoy or want to see.

With our world being one that is subjected to constant change in technological advancement and communication, trade offs must be made to further from traditional communities. With an increase in diversity to how we access certain information, society is exposed to information that may be misleading or completely incorrect. In instances such as political information, there is a rise in dissonance, there is also an increase in the exposure to other people’s stress and the struggles that come along with them. There is also vulnerability to the inequalities of traditional community (Hampton and Wellman, 2018). With the nature of community constantly changing, social media’s input in it is evolving and strongly associating itself within people’s identities, beliefs and interests. The accessibility to online media platforms has allowed, anyone to utilise information in however way they would like, whether it be for negative or positive intentions. Within these reasons the definition of community is changing along with the advancement of technology, there is a loss of traditional community, social interactions and truth in the information that is shared. Personal social interactions are beginning to lack and moral panic has increased.

References

Boczkowski, P. J., Mitchelstein, E., & Matassi, M. (2018). “News comes across when I’m in a moment of leisure”: Understanding the practices of incidental news consumption on social media. New Media & Society, 20(10), 3523–3539. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817750396

Cinelli, M., Quattrociocchi, W., Galeazzi, A., Valensise, C. M., Brugnoli, E., Schmidt, A. L., . . . Scala, A. (2020). The COVID-19 social media infodemic. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 16598. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73510-5

Hampton, K. N., & Wellman, B. (2018). Lost and Saved . . . Again: The Moral Panic about the Loss of Community Takes Hold of Social Media. Contemporary Sociology, 47(6), 643–651. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26585966

Hampton, K. N. (2016). Persistent and Pervasive Community: New Communication Technologies and the Future of Community. American Behavioral Scientist, 60(1), 101–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764215601714

J. D. Swerzenski (2021) Fact, fiction or Photoshop: Building awareness of visual manipulation through image editing software, Journal of Visual Literacy, 40:2, 104-124, DOI: 10.1080/1051144X.2021.1902041

Porter, E. G. (2014). TAKING IMAGES SERIOUSLY. Columbia Law Review, 114(7), 1687-1782. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/taking-images-seriously/docview/1812228473/se-2?accountid=10382