Introduction

One of the things that makes us human is collective learning. In other words, we share knowledge. These networks of knowledge have expanded across human history. In 1969, their size and speed took a giant leap. Researchers connected a few universities in a digital network called ARPANET. It was the beginnings of the Internet. At first available only to a few scientists, getting online is today available to more than half the world’s population. The Internet’s search engines and social networking applications allow anyone with a smartphone or other computing device to log on. But is this widespread connectivity good or bad? And since it’s half the world population and not all, what happens to the people who are left offline?

“You” on social media

Your phone alarm wakes you. You check your Instagram. How many likes did you get while you were sleeping? How many people looked at your post? Did anyone message you? Next, you check your Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, iMessage, Whatsapp, Twitter, and whatever new social network everyone just started using. Across the globe millions of people are doing the exact same thing.

Social networks as we know them have been around for less than twenty years. For many people, though, it’s hard to remember a time when they didn’t exist.

Social media: connecting people around the world

No question, social media and the Internet have an incredible power to connect people around the world. Music is a good example. In 2012, the song “Gangnam Style” went viral. Created by the Korean Rapper, Psy, its catchy chorus and amusing horse-riding dancing attracted an international audience. It became the first video to reach one billion views on YouTube.

Technology has also allowed geographically distant musicians to work together. Some share and remix styles from their traditional cultures. In 2014 the French-Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux released her song “Somos Sur,” (“We are the South”). It also featured British-Palestinian rapper Shadia Mansour. The collaboration connected beats, dance moves, and resistance movements in the countries of the global south.

Social media also allows us to create “virtual” communities. Facebook has been the most dominant example. Launched in 2004, Facebook is even more popular than YouTube. Concerts and parties can be organized using Facebook Events. Companies promote their products on Facebook feeds. Charities raise money. Families that have scattered across the globe video can chat via Facebook Messenger.

Social media apps like Instagram connect people visually. They allow millions of users to post images and videos. Friends and strangers around the globe can glimpse the daily lives of all users with public profiles. They respond to each other with direct messages. They post emoticons expressing approval or disapproval. Online dating apps even have changed how we flirt. In many places, they have largely replaced traditional ways of meeting possible partners.

Organizing through social media

Apps also have been used for political organizing. In 2010, opposition movements grew in the Middle East. It became known as the Arab Spring. These protestors coordinated their actions over Twitter and Facebook. In Hong Kong in 2019, anti-government protestors publicized their actions using Instagram and Snapchat.

Within the United States, Twitter has become an essential tool for building political movements. Activists use hashtags (#) to mobilize people around a cause. In 2013, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African-American teen, was shot and killed. The man who killed him was found not guilty in a trial. In response, a group of community organizers launched the hashtag BlackLivesMatter. It quickly became a movement, and not just on the Internet. It united people who wanted to fight the racism that continues to target black people. Twitter has given a platform for various groups once ignored by mass media.

Social media clearly has a dark side

These benefits of social media are not available to all. There is a “digital divide.” This split is between those who have a technology and those who can’t afford it. Those without internet are cut off from the networks it creates.

Social media also can be used to divide us, however. It may even trigger violence. Here’s just one example: In Sri Lanka in 2018, tensions between two ethnic groups—Muslims and Sinhalese Buddhists—grew much worse. Messages calling for the murder of Muslim people were posted on Facebook. In the following weeks people were burned and beaten to death. Investigations revealed that violent online messages most certainly played a role.

In politics, social media also has a destructive side. Yes, people use social media apps to organize. However, those same apps can be turned against them. Opponents may use them to confuse or crush protests. In 2018, reporters investigated Cambridge Analytica. This political consulting company had secretly collected data from 87 million Facebook users. It then used that information to influence elections. These campaigns were cleverly crafted. They aimed disruptive, often false, messages at people who were likely to believe them, affecting their vote.

A world together, or worlds apart?

Social networks affect us personally, as well. More and more, they bring people’s private lives into public view. For example, selfies have become an important form of expression for young people. However, research shows they can affect teenagers’ self-esteem based on how many likes their photos get.

Beyond self-esteem, social networks can leave us lonelier. Some users retreat into their phones and rely on apps for social interactions. Less and less, they meet friends “irl.”¹ One consequence may be less contact and increasingly polarized views of each other. What is the future of collective learning? Maybe you will play a role in answering that question.

1 In social media, irl means “in real life.” If you needed a footnote to tell you that, then you have not given up real life connections for social media, so that’s gr8.