De Vera, Clarisse Gale L.

Reflection Paper 2
Bio 2-3 TCW 0005

Technological Dimension of Globalization

Social media is an influential tool in political participance, democratization, and overall,

globalization. Social media have undeniably changed (1) interpersonal interaction especially
during this pandemic wherein regular class is held online, (2) communication patterns, our mode
of communication have evolved and certain lingos and colloquial terms were created, and most
importantly, (3) social and political discussions. It served as a platform wherein social awareness
was raised and protests were organized or even held. Movements such as #BLM, Stop Asian
Hate, LGBT Rights, Women's Liberation Movement, and as we have all been seeing in our feeds
recently, the #FreePalestine. Before, protests were organized through radios and text messages
but as the time progressed, technology evolved and it brought social media as a way of hearing
and raising social issues.

Before social media, Filipinos have already overthrew an abusive administration- The Marcos
regime. Information was passed through a radio station, Radio Veritas. It reached a lot of people
and encouraged them to fight the tyranny of the Marcoses. Years later, a second people power
was done once again by the Filipinos. The information was passed through text messages. So,
imagine the power social media can give to citizens fighting for democracy in their countries. It
serves as a platform that reaches all people that have access to the Internet. With this,
information is easily passed and accessed. Activists have used social media tools such as
Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, to pass information and news. In this dimension of
globalization, knowledge is truly the greatest power one man can hold and the ability to pass it
onto others makes social media a very valuable and influential agent of globalization.

However, like a gun, social media will be beneficial to the one who holds it. This is why
authoritarian governments have tried to lessen, manipulate, and monitor social media in their
countries. Truly, incompetent and tyrannous officials will always make sure to stay in power
even going through lengths such as monitoring Internet activities of their citizens. Social media
is truly a weapon if we wield it constantly. As it is open for many people, in different age groups,
genders, and races, all of us are responsible for making sure that what we share online is
informational and helpful.

The stand of the group is that social media is an influential tool but its effectiveness in
citizenship rights is still difficult to determine. Social media is helpful in raising social
awareness, this was significantly seen in recent events such as the #BlackLivesMatter and
#ACAB protests. Those two social issues were significantly raised with the use of social media.
It trended multiple times in social platforms such as Twitter because the actual videos are posted
online and were viewed by many people. However, social media can also be used against the
masses. This is when the government try to control the information flow on the Internet. When
authoritarian governments monopolize knowledge using social media, that is when it becomes
destructive. In conclusion, social media is a double-edged sword. One should always be wary of
its contents and effects.