Hey class,
Just read this article on Mashable and thought you would find it interesting. The author, Lance Ulanoff, attempts to answer this: “We’re all talking about Trayvon Martin now. But why did it take so long, and where was social media when Martin’s family needed it most?”
http://mashable.com/2012/03/24/social-media-and-trayvon-martin-care/
I think this article is very interesting and brings up a lot of good points about the priorities that our society has today. How can it be possible that more people are googling Kim Kardashian? What makes it possible is the technology overload that our generation has learned to live with. Because information is so readily available, we are bombarded by images and texts about everything and anything which allows some of the important knowledge to get lost.
I think social media is one of our generation’s biggest advantages as it allows the free flowing of information. However, I think our generation needs to sit back and take a look at what we are using these media channels for. Do we really need to know how what you ate for lunch today or how much you hate homework? No, not really, but because we can share our most mundane thoughts, we do. And that is why important news such as Trayvon’s death wasn’t at the forefront of the public’s attention until more than a month after the actual incident.