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March 17, 2023
MANILA The invention of the World Wide Web was one of the most important events in human history. Humanity's need for information, business, communication and entertainment is met with the simple touch of a finger. This development has changed our lives in visible and invisible ways, with consequences both good and bad.
The web has democratized many businesses, allowing anyone to buy or sell anything online. He democratized access to information, allowing everyone to become a source of information. He expanded the freedom of expression, providing everyone with not only virtual megaphones for the air, but also mini-TV franchises for dramatizing their own opinions.
The advent of the Internet has expanded the ranks of the influencers of our society, which refers to those who intentionally participate in shaping or influencing people's opinions and tastes. Before the Internet, our traditional influencers were limited to artists, athletes, politicians, journalists, business magnates, and religious leaders. With the invention of the Internet, the ranks of influencers have greatly expanded beyond traditional personalities; include almost everyone who has plenty of time, is motivated by faith or money, and has access to the web. We are seeing ordinary people transform into hugely popular personalities online, joining traditional influencers to form the ranks of social media influencers.
One of the factors behind the huge rise in social media influencers is the online availability of cheap and easy-to-produce short videos and photos accompanied by little text. In the past, traditional influencers had to spend or receive funding to produce films, television commercials, and promotional videos that express an opinion or influence taste. Journalists had to create long written articles to influence beliefs.
There are two main features of many social media influencers. First, they are long in entertainment value, but not in meaning. They are visually pleasing and even compelling because they appeal to our emotions. Second, many of these conclusions are neutral with respect to the principles of right and wrong and grossly inadequate with respect to values and ethics. They can be compared to the proliferation of mass-produced fast foods that are very tasty but have very little nutritional value.
It is wrong to point the finger at ordinary people who have become influencers of this phenomenon. Even before the advent of the Internet, many traditional influencers sold visual entertainment that appealed to the senses rather than the intellect in the process of selling political opinions or advancing commercial interests.
The perpetrators of all this are political and business opportunists who sell and sell political interests and commercial products without regard to morals and principles. The pure goal is to accumulate either power or money. We see the hands of powerful political groups in the conclusions of powerful people broadcasting distorted and perverted political messages. We see the money of immoral business groups in their advertising sponsorship of clips and social media posts that are popular only because they cause controversy or promote vulgarity.
Before the Internet, these political and business groups had to rely on very expensive artists whose reach and influence were limited. After the Internet, the presence of local (nano) and nationwide (mega) influencers, who are cheaper but more effective in communicating face-to-face with ordinary people, has ensured the spread of unethical and unscrupulous social media messages.
We live in a time when we need to dig through a mountain of false news in order to get truthful information and principled expression of opinion. In the process of excavation, many of us are lured by witchcraft, bewitched by mesmerizing videos and mind-blowing pictures, and also deceived by sound bites. And many of us are discouraged by the tedious and comparatively boring social media offerings of those who adhere to principles and ethics.
We live in interesting times. We live in a dangerous and very difficult time.
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