YOUTUBE’S SOCIAL IMPACT

Youtube’s concept “Broadcast Yourself” has shown it’s not always a force of good. Without a doubt, it’s a concept with great potential when used in an ethical way. But some people of our digital age have pushed its limit and used it to exploit others or promote law-breaking actions. Certainly YouTube is now part of our global culture- videos on there can touch us, make us laugh, inform us and even market to us. However, when does “Broadcast Yourself” go too far?

The thing is that it has evolved into this phenomenon where people sometimes choose their 15 minutes of fame over civil duty. It has become such a common thing to stop and film an incident instead of caring about the people involved. “Broadcast Yourself” definitely goes too far when you won’t warn your fellow civilians from a potential fatal flying mishap like this one. I consider it a side effect of being a digital native, but in the end, it all comes down to common sense: sometimes it’s worth putting your camera down, forget those 15 minutes of fame and start caring about the people around you. I couldn’t agree more with the concept of Youtube, but please don’t exploit it.

 

References:

Larmand, Z. (2011). Arbitrage Magazine. The Viral Impact of Youtube On Culture and Business. Retrieved from: http://www.arbitragemagazine.com/topics/culture/viral-impact-youtube-culture-business/?page=all

Margolis, D. (2008). Certification Magazine. Analyzing the Societal Effects of Youtube. Retrieved from: http://certmag.com/analyzing-the-societal-effects-of-youtube/

Van de Rijt, A., Shor, E., Ward, C., & Skiena, S. (2013). American Sociological Rewiew. Only 15 Minutes? The Social Stratification of Fame in Printed Media, vol. 78 issue 2, pp.266-289. Retrieved from: http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.bond.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=4&sid=b82d4d76-88a0-4379-b719-489aaf6aa5ca%40sessionmgr114&hid=120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=86418602

Youtube. (2014). World News US. Landing Plane Nearly Hits German Man Sunbathing on Beach. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19fTxeKwoL0