Cyberwarfare is now a naturally occurring form of terrorism in the United States, and it will continue to harm our democracy like it did in 2016. We’re living in a world of deepfakes, fake news, and controversial Presidential Twitter use. That’s why we need a more media-informed public for the future.
See, we’re at a critical fork in the road on America. Right now, we can choose to let tech overrun our civilization and make it an extension of ourselves by automating everything and continuing to evolve around it. The other option is to be more punitive on tech’s role in our lives. This would involve halting processes like automation and building infrastructure to limit media disruption. Either way, we will need policies to catch up. Way up.
Without proper federal policies in place, we’re at the mercy of the media and Big Tech, and their policies are not geared towards the wellbeing of the public. Amazon is shutting down malls and killing small businesses while Facebook is allowing political candidates to lie in their political ads. While they say it’s just part of the business or protection of the First Amendment, the truth is that every entity and community makes its own rules. Facebook has its community policies, which you can find online, so why isn’t this included? You’d think they would choose to be more mindful of the content they allow on their site, especially since they were the target of nationwide critique more than once over the last few years. From illegal data sharing to political tampering, these entities are scamming the American people, but we depend on them.
While the best advice is to boycott these entities, it’s not plausible to organize such a large-scale protest since these entities provide what are now essential services for the 21st century. Yes, I believe these services are essential, and to deny that would probably be classist. We can have that talk if you want: @kirbyfritters on Twitter.
I need to go on about Facebook. About 34% of Americans say they prefer to get their news online, and that number is steadily growing from 26% in 2016. Even though most of America also claims to prefer television as their main news source (44%), the Internet is still an integral part of that process. Nowadays we’ve come to depend on fact-checking sites, like Snopes, to tell us what’s real and what’s fake. They give power to the layperson who doesn’t have advanced media training; however, those are not readily available to all people, as I’ll get to soon.
So, what could be done? What’s the best path to take? Truthfully, there is no “best path.” There is only the way we go and how we respond to it. There are government initiatives in places like Colorado that aim to increase media literacy; however, state-by-state initiatives will not be as effective due to obvious disparities between communities. We need equal treatment of this issue across the country to ensure that tomorrow’s youth are up-to-date and able to adapt to new technology, which is still evolving rapidly. Critical skills like coding and distinguishing fake news shouldn’t just be for the college-educated or elite. These are skills that should be shared in small towns like where I grew up in West Virginia, especially since Republicans also don’t feel understood by the media, with the majority of those who feel that way reportedly not being interested in news. This is an opportunity to take the status quo and flip it. According to the Pew Research Center:
A third of non-internet users (34%) did not go online because they had no interest in doing so or did not think the internet was relevant to their lives. Another 32% of non-users said the internet was too difficult to use, including 8% of this group who said they were “too old to learn.” Cost was also a barrier for some adults who were offline – 19% cited the expense of internet service or owning a computer.
The article referenced includes low income and a lack of a college education as other indicators of little to no Internet usage. Do you know what those sound like? Rural problems. Rural people are incredibly disenfranchised and typically disconnected from their political process, so I’d argue that this is the group that needs media literacy legislation the most. Why? To connect them to the world around them and open their minds, for one thing, but also because they are part of the same group that were susceptible to fake news last election season. This makes them a key part of saving America. Do you think that rural areas will take these initiatives seriously since they believe it has no bearing on their lives or that they will receive the same resources from the state that somewhere like California will? Well, no, which is why federal legislation has to be the answer for them.
Not to mention the war on the media. Believe it or not, these things feed into each other. Whether we want to admit it or not, there is incredible distrust in the media right now, and it’s causing major problems in PR, reporting, and politics. Policy reform would also be an effective tool in restructuring the media while protecting the First Amendment. Let people say what they want, but make them research more, present better, disclose falsified information.
Que the Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act, what I consider a step in the right direction. According to The Hill:
The Digital Citizen and Media Literacy Act would establish a $20 million grant program at the Department of Education to help fund K-12 media literacy curricula. The funds would be available to local education agencies to create programs on media literacy and to state agencies to create “advisory councils” to establish state-wide media literacy guidelines.
This type of regulation is the future, no matter how you slice it, so why aren’t more political candidates talking about it? Hell, why aren’t more citizens talking about it?