Can Social Media Create Community?

A lot has been made of the negative and positive impacts of social media platforms such as Facebook, but the extended reach that the platform gives to its users is typically chief amongst the list of potential positive impacts, but is this actually a tangible positive impact? In the Afterward section of his novel Bowling Alone: …

From Gamers to the World, the Unusual Rise of Discord

PAX East 2015 Photo by Kyle Gaddo via Flickr Throughout the past few years Discord has quickly risen to become one of the most popular and prolific social media platforms in the world. Starting off as a platform “by gamers, for gamers” it quickly shifted in the past year to become a more serious, legitimate …

Online Communities: What are They?

The rules of our game are still in flux and humanity is grappling with the implications of its perpetual high stakes social experiment. Communities are the lifeblood of… well life, and our new technologies are shaking things up as usual. While old and reliable, in person communities have spatial disadvantages that the internet seemingly ameliorates …

Citizenship is not like Football – It is not a Spectator Sport

Photo by Arnaud Jaegers on Unsplash Mia Len What is Citizenship? Football - America's greatest pastime. Key word: pastime. Citizenship (the position or status of being a citizen of a particular country), on the other hand, is far from a pastime. In fact, it is the opposite and more. Contrary to what seems to be popular belief, citizenship …

Social media addiction and civic engagement

One of society's greatest innovations and conveniences of the modern age has undoubtedly been the advent of social media and other internet based conveniences. It’s designed to keep us in an addictive loop for hours and hours, subject to excessive amounts of advertising and recommended content. While there are obviously many factors that correlate with …

Suburbanization – What does this have to do with Civic Engagement?

Mia Len Photo by Tom Rumble on Unsplash Why do we find ourselves in a society in which our civic engagement continues to decrease? This seems to be a question that we repeatedly ask ourselves. Sure, there are countless reasons that we could list that continue to contribute to the decline in civic engagement. But, where would the …

The Mental Side Effects of Being Individualistic

Between the 1960's and now, Americans have become increasingly individualistic. Author Michael Hendrix in an article for National Review reports that "roughly 43 million adults over the age of 45 are estimated to suffer from chronic loneliness." This number has increased over the years, Hendrix writes - 40 percent of American adults say they are …

Civic Engagement as Response to Crisis: Then and Now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3i3NC6hsgs CBS New York story about communities taking action amid the coronavirus pandemic The United States has struggled greatly with civic engagement over the years. While the 1960 Presidential Election saw a 62.8 percent voter turnout rate, this number slipped to 48.9 percent just 36 years later in 1996. But voting hasn't been the only …