{"id":7487,"date":"2013-09-04T08:50:49","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T15:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=7487"},"modified":"2013-09-09T09:24:27","modified_gmt":"2013-09-09T16:24:27","slug":"is-it-time-for-social-media-reform-experts-weigh-in-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2013\/09\/04\/is-it-time-for-social-media-reform-experts-weigh-in-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it time for social media reform? Experts weigh in. #change"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s mind-numbingly obvious that social media is a huge part of the lives of students today. Everyone knows about social media, most people partake in it, and it affects every Camosun student.<\/p>\n

There are social media meetups. There are networking and career-advancing opportunities.<\/p>\n

There was the Arab Spring.<\/p>\n

There is also the destruction of self-esteem. There is endless distraction.<\/p>\n

There are suicides.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s confusion: do we believe it when we see a Facebook post where someone claims \u201cfor every share I\u2019ll plant a tree\u201d? Do we believe every link that\u2019s shared on Twitter from a news blog that doesn\u2019t check its facts and has no credibility?<\/p>\n

Every social phenomenon has two sides to it, and social media is no exception. While some students embrace it as a vital part of their future and their career-to-be, some experts are warning that if we don\u2019t change our relationship with social media, the consequences will be dire.<\/p>\n

Take the bad with the good<\/strong><\/p>\n

Raffi Cavoukian is one of the people saying social media needs to go through a serious stage of reform, that we need to gain control of it before it gains control of us. The popular children\u2019s singer is also an advocate for change, and, as he points out in his new book, #lightwebdarkweb: Three Reasons to Reform Social Media Be4 it Re-forms Us<\/i>, he embraces advances in technology, but he advocates reforming it.<\/p>\n

The idea of reforming what has become such an enormous thing is a daunting one, but Cavoukian says that\u2019s no excuse to not do it, via regulation, like how other forms of media are regulated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe need to reform has to be weighed on its own merits,\u201d he says. \u201cHow realistic is almost a secondary question. If something needs to change, it must be changed. \u2018Are there good reasons to reform social media?\u2019 is the way I would approach your question, although I appreciate the question as you\u2019ve formed it. How many teen suicides must it take before society as a whole wakes up to the need for social media reform for safety?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Author and musician Raffi Cavoukian feels social media is a good thing but needs to undergo reform (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his book, Cavoukian cites three reasons why social media must be reformed: safety, intelligence, and sustainability. \u201cReforming social media without delay is critical,\u201d he says in the book. But before reform even happens, there are steps people can take to make social media a safer place. And while his book is geared towards parents who have kids, he says the advice in it also applies to adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe advice for younger kids also holds true for college students,\u201d says Cavoukian. \u201cUse social media wisely, with discernment, not compulsively. And never while drinking or in an altered state. Never while driving. Those points have to made; that has to be your base from which you start.\u201d<\/p>\n

And once you\u2019ve started, think about what you\u2019re doing on social media, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re using social media, have your goal be to inform, to enliven, and to uplift,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can have a lot of fun; humour is a great thing we can share in social media. Not to harm. Always to uplift.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while a person talking in catchphrases is usually a fast track to annoyance, with Cavoukian, his sincerity shines through as he urges: \u201cShine your light. Grow the lightweb.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camosun communications instructor Lois Fernyhough says that the way to make social media a safer place is through education.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve talked in the past about media literacy; social media literacy, we need to work on that,\u201d she says. \u201cKids today have grown up with digital technology, and because they\u2019ve grown up with it, they accept it, and they don\u2019t question it. So it\u2019s just assumed it does what it does, so people just take it for granted and perhaps don\u2019t realize how powerful it can be or some of the problems it can pose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernyhough says that she teaches students that it\u2019s not always them using the technology… sometimes, it\u2019s the technology using them. The attitudes she faces when talking about this surprise her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very surprised that college students are aware that there isn\u2019t much private on the internet, but they don\u2019t seem to be that concerned about it,\u201d she says. \u201cI try to show them how corporations are using their personal information to sell them stuff online, and even that doesn\u2019t seem to faze them much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take the good with the bad<\/strong><\/p>\n

But with all the bad comes good, according to some people. Take, for example, Paul Holmes, co-founder of the Victoria chapter of the Social Media Club and co-host of the annual Social Media Camp. Holmes established Canada\u2019s first chapter of the Social Media Club when he co-founded Victoria\u2019s, and the Social Media Camp is the largest social media conference in Canada.<\/div>\n

Safe to say, Holmes likes social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you could say that, sure,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cI was in IT for 20 years. I\u2019m 40, and I was always really interested in communications technology. When I was 13 years old, before the internet was something people did, I was running BBSes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes says that even though he\u2019s a champion for social media, he\u2019s not blind to its problems. Yet he feels there\u2019s more positive than negative about the phenomenon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hear of some of the amazing things, and I\u2019ve heard a lot running these conferences every year, some of the amazing things happening around the world and here with individuals and stuff using these tools and connecting with people, I still believe the positive far outweighs the negative. We as a society have to figure out a way to deal with the negative. Some of it\u2019s just going to be social changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camosun\u2019s Fernyhough points to the Arab Spring as an example of how social media, on a larger scale, can lead to great things.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwitter was used to bring together people who were protesting the Egyptian regime at that time, and other things that were happening across the Arab countries at that time,\u201d she says. \u201cTwitter was being used as a force to unify the opposition to the political regime and to organize the people and sort of get them to figure out, \u2018We\u2019ll meet here, we\u2019ll organize here, we need medical assistance there,\u2019 that sort of thing. So an instantaneous social messaging system can be used in those sorts of ways as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s on a global scale; on a micro level, Fernyhough says that social media can be used to build positive communities, and to help advance potential careers through networking.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media is a way for like-minded people to come together, and it can be for the purposes of evil, but it can also be for positive things,\u201d she says. \u201cSo it\u2019s a way for people to get together, to communicate, to share ideas. It can definitely be used educationally, and in a career sense, and you can build up a network of people who are working in the same area that you\u2019re working in, or, as a student, that you want to work in. So it can be a wonderful networking tool. You can meet and be connected to so many more people than if you, say, just went to a business mixer in Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n

The power is in our hands<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s very important to note that social media isn\u2019t all negative. It has the power to create incredible change on a global scale, can be utilized to help advance careers, and is just a lot of simple, mindless fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cRevolutions have started on social media,\u201d says Holmes. \u201cThe tools of human communication have become far faster and far more effective to reach wide audiences, and it becomes a very liberating tool in a very real sense around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s also important to note that, ultimately, it\u2019s not whether social media has good or bad intentions. It\u2019s whether the people using social media have good or bad intentions.<\/p>\n

\u201cBullying is a human problem, not a social media problem,\u201d says Holmes. \u201cTo imply that without the tool bad behaviour wouldn\u2019t happen is pretty naive. So in facing those challenges, we have to look at solutions that work within the framework of modern society.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Cavoukian, it comes down to using the tools of social media wisely. He still hopes for a large-scale reform of safety and privacy issues with social media, but in the meantime, he says this: don\u2019t be stupid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would we use social media, anyway? What are we doing when we\u2019re using it? We\u2019re reaching out, making new acquaintances. Learning, sharing, right? But, again, when we do that with a conscious mind, rather than the compulsive dependency or addiction, which we don\u2019t want, that gives us the best chance to use the web in a smart way,\u201d he says. \u201cYou want to be a smart social media user, not a dumb one, to put it bluntly. You don\u2019t want to be social media stupid, because it\u2019s an unforgiving medium. You make mistakes on social media, and it\u2019s there for life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s mind-numbingly obvious that social media is a huge part of the lives of students today. Everyone knows about social media, most people partake in it, and it affects every Camosun student. There are social media meetups. There are networking and career-advancing opportunities. There was the Arab Spring. There is also the destruction of self-esteem. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,109],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-september-4-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7487"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7566,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7487\/revisions\/7566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}