Click Click Boom: Is Social Media in Need of Reform?

Consuelo Brown

Colorado Technical University

 Edward Bulwer Lytton once said that the “pen is mightier than the sword". That may be

true in terms of deescalating a situation with words instead of violence. In the great wisdom that

fueled this timeless quote, the clash between digital, written, and social media was probably

never considered, although it has come to the forefront in pertaining to the social issues of the

day. Written communication and its effectiveness has fallen far behind that of social media and

its many platforms. The pressing issue of social justice and the many mixed messages that it is

sending to the mases through both written and digital media is bringing the cries of change to

both platforms to that of a fever pitch. The question that must be asked in order to have a

balanced perception of the issues at hand is this: Is social media in need of reform?

On a comparison scale, both platforms appear to be equally influenced, both positively,

and negatively, by each other. The written word is one of the oldest and most reliable forms of

communication around the world. In terms of social justice in the last 100 years, the written

word has been the springboard to launch invaluable movements towards change, such as the civil

rights movement. On the positive side, the battered face of Emmit Till splashed all over the

written media at the time had just as much impact to the cause of social justice as the cellphone

recorded video of the law enforcement officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd uploaded to

social media has in the present day. On the negative side, due to the efficiency and varied

platforms of social media, hate filled speech and recruitment for terrorist organizations over both

written and digital media also needs to be considered. Nothing can spread a message faster and

to more people than one blasted to written or digital media. This is a time tested and ageless

concept, and an example of the vitalness of both written and digital communication both

historically, as well as right here and now.

 With the onslaught of social media and its many platforms, one must consider the impact

that this has on the overall effectiveness of communication. As a future criminal justice

professional and current social media content creator, this particular topic is vital to the trajectory

of my career. One of the maim complaints I have about social media in general is the lack of

awareness as to what is posted and how those posts impact a reputation in the immediate and

distant future, and I am not alone in this sentiment. Dr. Yolanda Leott conducted a study at a

prestigious university about the awareness of students, especially criminal justice students, of

law enforcement monitoring their social media activity and the scores garnered were very low.

(Leott, 2019) This could have a major impact in the negative sense on their future employment

prospects, simply because of the lack or appropriate communication across their personal social

media feeds. The swiftness with which social media is spread is also impacting the judicial

system by tainting the jury pool in cases that must come before the court. This infringes upon

the right of every accused criminal to a fair trial decided by a jury of their objective peers. With

no clearly defined or enforced safeguards by the proponents of social media against this in place,

the plight of prejudice and its abolishment are significantly threatened by this lack of

accountability in social media communications (Capobianco, 2020). A study was done on the

impact of social media pertaining to criminal justice issues, and the results showed that

misinformation perpetuated through social media to the masses helps to incite the moral panic

that caused protests such as the breach of the Capitol building prior to the election of President

Biden (Whitman, 2019). Lives were lost, a federal investigation to pursue and arrest those

involved is currently underway, as well as unproven conspiracy theory supporters trying to halt

the governmental process in the House and Senate, and all of this is due to unregulated

information spread throughout social media.

 The answer to the question posed is a glaringly obvious yes. For all the positive

influence that social media has had on communication in in terms of speed, variety of platforms

and audiences, and language integration and innovation, the negative influence of lack of

accuracy of the information posted, lack of decorum in terms of what exactly is posted, and the

lack of enforced regulation of the rules concerning what information is released, has come to

light in recent days. The solutions to these issues are quite easily obtainable with a willing and

proven governmental body to discuss, formulate, and readily enforce these solutions. If the

current trend in social media continues without any interruption, the main purpose of interaction

in social media could conglomerate into a perfect storm of uniting for the wrong side, which

could ultimately lead to the demise of the democracy that defines the United States of America.
 References

Capobianco, Joseph M. (2020). Has Social Media Destroyed a Federal Rule? The False Promise

of Transfer to Cure Prejudice in the Social Media Era Texas Law Review 99(1) pp. 165-

191

Leott, Yolanda M. (2019). Screening out: Criminal justice students’ awareness of social media

usage in policing Cogent Social Sciences, 5(1), doi: 10.1080/23311886.2019.1573570

Whitman, M. S. (2019). Media Influence on the Public Opinion of Criminal

Justice Issues and Policies: A Quantitative Descriptive Study. NC University, Retrieved

https://search.proquest.com/openview/743f47521eb2377440a2fa8557a825c7/1cbl=18750

&diss=y&pq-origsite=gscholar