Community: Real Life

Online distortion


Johnny Gedye

Johnny, 20, is a blogger from the sunny south west of England. He likes music more than anything else and played in a punk band until the ways of alcohol and sleeping rough got the better of him, whereupon he settled down to a nice job and will pay his bills until he dies. He raises his voice when necessary.

Are we actually learning more online? Johnny worries we've forgotten how to question what we read when we enter the information jungle of the internet.

When I was at college, we were strongly encouraged to develop opinions on the topics we studied. Nowadays it seems online communication is hampering our ability to think for ourselves. Not only that, but it's affecting the media too, as pack mentality among groups of people online grows at an alarming rate. It may seem like we're all learning more through reading and watching content on a range of issues, but far too often rather than finding out the truth, we're really just dealing with lies or twisted facts because journalists are giving airtime to ridiculous online conspiracy theorists.

Look at this article in the Daily Mail regarding the untimely demise of the Polish president. The piece discusses a video, released online, which allegedly shows footage of Russian soldiers shooting survivors of the plane crash which killed the president.

It shocks me that, even with such a sad event, the media legitimises such nonsense. Take a look at the video and try and decipher what exactly is being said. At a guess I would say probably none of you (even those able to speak Russian) will be able to work out exactly whats going on. The sound quality, even after being enhanced, is very poor, so it's hard to find out what is actually being said.

The amount of attention given to what's basically an annotated YouTube video is beyond me. The Daily Mail may have meant to write a balanced article, but the danger is that people will just see the video and assume it's true. Surely any logical thinker would be extremely angry at any suggestion "the 'orrible Ruskis" have gone and rounded up a group of injured passengers and shot them?

"Surely any logical thinker would be extremely angry at any suggestion the orrible Ruskis have gone and rounded up a group of injured passengers and shot them?"

This trend for distortion is also evident in day-to-day communication online. The internet is meant to be full of user generated opinions, provoking discussion and free thought amongst communities. Yet, every time I sign on to sites like Twitter and Facebook all I see are tired arguments which have no clear source and which, through the medium of online Chinese whispers, have reached me.

Twitters reweet function is another concern of mine. On the surface it's a useful tool for forwarding interesting messages and promoting friends requests for help. But I'm sure Im not the only one to notice it can have a more sinister impact. It's become a loathsome feature that leads people to forward articles and opinions without even thinking about or reading them first.  People arent voicing their personal opinions, just forwarding someone elses.

We're way too eager to publicise biased sources. The article I mentioned earlier is a prime example. Here we have a mass media source giving page room to conspiracy theories about Russian soldiers executing members of a nearby countrys government - and were helping perpetuate this scaremongering by sending it round the internet.  

There are so many seemingly authoritative online voices that the truth is distorted and our ability to look objectively at topics is increasingly hindered. I believe the only way to understand what is going on around us is to thoroughly explore the issues.  

Perhaps weve all become too lazy and rely on sites like Twitter and its 140 character limit to keep us informed. Sure, it allows for the swift circulation of ideas and general news. However, it doesnt allow for any form of lengthy reflection on topics. If you are going to share information in this way, then at least think twice before posting a link that you havent questioned or formed an opinion about first.

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Updated: 15/07/2010


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