SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
By Dilshani Palugaswewa-2018-01-21Ceylon Today Features
Social media has gone from just connecting with peers to impacting society, from epic selfies to trending global topics. We have seen some exceptional stories plastered on our screens. Social media almost never failing to make headlines with its wonderworks - good and bad has slowly transcended to the biggest online activity.
Apart from the name social media has earned over the years; getting black tagged for the negative impacts it has had in the past, social medial has been an indispensable part in connectivity and social justice.
As mindsets are changing today; we've become wiser and accepting of diversity and unorthodox ideologies. We as a society have become more sensitive and inclusive of each other. Although irrefutably, xenophobia and global disparity does exist, today social media acts as a tool which amplifies our voices and positively taps into the paradigm shift. In the click of a button our idea, opinion or story resonates to tens of thousands of people.
Although, social media has been used to flaunt one's life and connect with peers one has lost touch with over time, many know and understand that this platform can be used more wisely as an agent for change, leading to a more gratifying outcome as it provides a wider outreach.
Umpteen times in the past, Facebook and Twitter have been used to kick start campaigns, draw funding by government officials and sign petitions by global citizens that have been both successful and imperative to communities at large. Social networking has also worked constructively to lift the spirits of shattered souls and empathized in mending broken hearts. In the smallest ways this portal capacitates us to touch lives and accelerate action.
For Sri Lanka - a nation that endured years and years of civil war which terrorized its people and left them paralyzed by anxiety and crippled by fear for thirty odd years, it has been a long hard and continuous process to recuperate from all the caused damage.
So, what if, with the changing times and the evolving technologies, we used social media to power a fraction of good, for we are a country on the path to reconciliation.
multiple points of view
In conversation with digital activist Benislos Thushan on the possible role of social media in a country on the path to reconciliation he opined "If one pauses for a second and scrutinizes the cycle of violence in Sri Lanka; one common pattern that could be found is often times youth are radicalized by polarizing forces, used and they are left used. One key factor that causes the radicalization is again the communication vacuum; the unavailability to receive multiple points of view which hinders the ability to make a rational and especially informed decision."
And so through these platforms people get exposed to a plethora of viewpoints which would help them make wise judgements, "Social media has created a level playing field especially for the youth to access and be informed of multiple points of view. It not only reduces the risk of radicalization, but it empowers them to exercise their own judgment and share their perspective with the audience they have already built," he exclaimed.
Sharing experiences from the work he does and the influence his activism has on peace-building and youth involvement, Benislos has hope in re-building communities that were left defenceless a few years back.
As an educator in Digital Storytelling in Jaffna, he explained that the objective of his training programme is to empower youth with skill and competencies to be citizen journalists of and from their communities. This practice today, is a functional system through connectivity and networking. "What enabled this training possible is the better connectivity, easy accessibility of digital tools such as the Smart phone, mobile camera and the ability to navigate social media platforms with a restless passion to take photos and share stories; opening a whole range of possibilities," stated they young activist.
Further adding on he said, "If these available resources and passion for storytelling could be included in an application-based framework and if these could be channelled constructively by giving them skills and competencies to best use the available resources; we are not only preserving youth from radicalization, but we are empowering them to be the voices of and from their communities and create ripples by sharing one story at a time. This redefined role of youth gives me hope. This is one way to make sure that the times when youth were used as vehicles for those radicalizing elements are over."
When we analyze the plethora of problems our country has today, in terms of ethnic clashes and the constant fight each of us have to prove to one another that our voices need to be heard because it should equally matter, somewhere along the line, we have lose the plot. The reason being, either because the people who do listen to us are only doing so, just so that they could reply. Or the source of information from mainstream media has been misconstrued and mistranslated, bent and narrated to what they want to project.
So even though we all may be on the same page wanting our stories to be heard for what they are, and represented for all the right reasons we've each caught the wrong end of the stick. However, with social media we probably have a chance. "When stories are created and shared organically of and from their respective communities, it enables dialogue and cross-cultural understanding; it creates a common ground and helps people listen to multiple viewpoints and make informed choices, thus ultimately contributing to the reconciliation process by building bridges with those of different background and ideologies. It's all made possible by social media," observed Benislos.
'information
multipliers'
However, what happens to the people who do not have access to social media? How do we get them on board? Because of course, we don't want to leave anybody behind the sailing ship right? Moreover, there also lies a possibility for that insecurity of not being on par with the rest of the world, to result in another cycle of disharmony.
Putting the question to Science Writer and Independent Researcher on New Media Nalaka Gunawardene said, attributing the statistics to data gathered by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL), by mid 2017, 30% of Sri Lanka's population was using the internet frequently.
The real game-changer according to him though, is the spread of Smartphones through which over 75% of the country's six million Internet users go online. "As I have been saying for a while, the Internet casts a wider and longer 'shadow' on Lankan society that goes well beyond the direct users. This is because many direct users are 'information multipliers' – such as teachers, journalists and activists - with significant influence on the information access and opinion formation of those not yet online. Cyber sceptics who insist that new media reach is still very limited miss out on such extended 'shadows.'
Nalaka notes in his book which was published at the end of last year called Digital Transformation in Sri Lanka: Opportunities and Challenges in Pursuit of Liberal Policies, "By 2017, Sri Lanka has had mobile telephone services for 28 years, and commercial Internet services for 22 years. The early years were dominated by concerns of connectivity and basic access. As these factors ease off across socio-economic groups and as the urban-rural digital disparities gradually recede, society now faces a more complex and nuanced set of challenges."
He further illustrates how our country can leverage the use of social media for a larger cause. "These 'post-connectivity challenges' include improving digital literacy; enhancing locally relevant content; ensuring proper technical standards for web and digital applications; addressing gender disparities in digital technology and web use; safeguarding individual privacy and data protection online;
enhancing cyber security at individual and institutional levels; and containing electronic surveillance... How the State and society respond to these and other challenges determines the kind of information society we would evolve into. Policy makers, researchers, industry leaders and activists have a window of opportunity to make enlightened choices."
agent for change
Another concern that arises with this is how we can educate those left behind, if we want a grander outcome of the mass use of social media. "For this, we urgently need to enhance digital literacy among Lankan people. The Department of Census and Statistics conducted the countrywide 2016 survey on computer ownership and literacy in Sri Lanka and found that 21.6% of households owned at least one desktop or laptop computer (35.4% households in the urban sector and 19.6% in the rural/estate sectors). They calculated the digital literacy rate of our population to be 33.8% (males 36.7% and females 31.2%)."
However the impact should not be overestimated suggests Nalaka. "Let us also not over-rate the societal impact of social media where most of the conversations are... Not everyone who goes online, or uses social media, has to discuss matters of public importance. In any society, such public interest conversations are initiated and sustained by a relatively smaller number of committed and passionate persons."
So how paramount is social media in the reconciliation process - post war?
While we want social media to power through as an agent for change and even though with the globalization of this phenomenon it has become the starting point of any new venture in the modern world, there needs to be other external factors that would determine the impact it could have. "Our political parties and State agencies need to be willing to genuinely engage citizens and their groups in important national conversations – including on how to devolve power, and how to achieve genuine harmony in our multicultural land.
As I have noted in my recent book, despite such good intentions, online engagement of citizens on the new Constitution making process has been ad hoc and patchy.
The Constitution Assembly's official website collates useful historical and current information, but does not allow citizens to comment or discuss on the website. Its social media accounts have failed to gain traction. While the current process of the Constitutional process has been more consultative than anything Sri Lanka has ever experienced before, the initial hopes of 'crowdsourcing' the new Constitution – including through online means as the Prime Minister once envisaged – have not been realized."
Sharing one particular story that stuck with him, as an example for creating dialogue via social media, Benislos told the story of a young boy Srivithurasan from Mullaitivu who attends his training programme. "I have opened up an Instagram page called 'everydaymullaitivu.' Although the war is over, we are still looked at with sympathy as a post war place with poverty and other social ills. My aim is to redefine this stereotypical image of Mullaitivu and to rebrand it as a place of hope and possibilities, where people are working hard to earn their livelihood, children are attending schools with profound willingness to learn and the people of Mullaitivu are working collectively every single day to overcome the legacy of war, as a happening community with life and colour."
With such examples, it's hard to dispute the little difference we can make even in the smallest way. We can talk and tweet and sort things out or agree to disagree. But virtual progress can transmute into real time change if we all listen to understand each other.
With our visibility maximized by networking and our digital voices amplified, this can be a precious medium for unification and broadcasting.
Bottom line, with the merging of human creativity and our ever advancing technology, we have the power to drive into a better tomorrow. Only if you chose to.
