Digital Natives Still Susceptible to Misinformation

It's no question that social media is very popular amongst teens and young adults. Teens and young adults are being crowned the title as "digital natives" in today's day and age. A digital native is described as "people who have grown up under the ubiquitous influence of the internet and other modern information technologies.” Social …

Desensitization via Media Exposure: A Societal Problem

Image source: Rawhide Youth Services Within our modern cultural and digital landscapes, it is no secret that there is an overwhelming glut of entertainment media. For example, in terms of television and film, one needs only to look at the 50+ different streaming services available in North America for a frame of reference, or even …

The Algorithm: Marketing through Bias and Politicization

Image sources: Siteminder.com and Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania In my previous blog posts, I discussed the algorithm's tendency to feed off of people's political division to create a binary system of content recommendation rather than a shared news culture. For example, it was made evident that there was a relationship, or at the very …

Civic Engagement As a College Student

Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels.com I am writing this journal article to discuss the effects being a college student can have on one's civic engagement as well as how it has personally affected me.  I will dive into both the benefits as well as the drawbacks and will be speaking from my own personal …

The Hoochies of Houston: Influencers Encouraging Civic Engagement on Social Media

Nia Jones is a social media influencer who is the co-founder of the Hoochies of Houston, a non-profit grassroots organization of activists fighting for the protection of Black women and encouraging Black civic engagement. Part of her and her co-founders’ drive to create the Hoochies of Houston comes from the murder of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant …

Pro-Choice and Pro-Life: the Overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Caricatures the Pro-Life movement makes of Women

Pro-Choice and Pro-Life are polarized social and political groups that represent people’s perspectives on abortion: whether women should have the right to choose to get abortions or if they should be obligated, both morally and politically, to remain pregnant until birth. In Texas, the restrictions on reproductive rights prevent pregnant women from getting abortions after …

Is local journalism important? The backstabbing selective story coverage of The Bronx.

Twin Parks apartment complex fire In light of viral videos, worldwide news, and overwhelming knowledge, local journalism has been overshadowed greatly. We wouldn’t be able to notice what goes on in our own neighborhoods and cities if not for the immense amount of viral videos that become news coverage. The Bronx building fire happened January …

How can athletics positively and negatively influence civic engagement?

I remember I was a young kid, and there was no such thing as a personal device for entertainment. In-person civic engagement was at an all-time high, with many young athletes playing outside. The outdoors was our gaming system for most of the children in my neighborhood until Wiis and Playstations were gaining attention. “Around …

Should The Criteria For Civic Engagement Change?

Photo by Max DeRoin on Pexels.com Civic engagement is crucial to democracy and the prosperity of our nation. The Criteria for what it means to be civically engaged has remained the same for quite some time. In the age of the internet we live in today, we have access to so many more opportunities to …