This part doesn’t count towards word count – just using this to get some ideas
Next, really consider what you’re trying to say.
What is your perspective on the complexities of activism in the age of ubiquitous digital technology and the nearly inescapable presence of social media?
I don’t think that social media is real activism, but I think that there are those who do. While I am not against the “protests” I see on social media, I don’t think that its really doing anything. While some people might actually care, many are probably just doing it to look good.
What does it mean to be an activist?* Do your ideas fit with Gladwell’s ideas on activism?
I think that to be an activist, real action needs to be taken (active is quite literally in the word). I think that my ideas fit relatively well with Gladwell’s ideas, but I do recognize that social media activism can do some good.
And, how does digital technology and social media enhance, diminish, or complicate activism as you conceive it?
I don’t think social media “hurts” activism, but I don’t think it does much to benefit it (Like the bone marrow example in Gladwell’s essay) .The only way I could see it hurt activism is by people pretending to care for their social status but when there is real action needed, no one commits.
Deeper still: What would bring YOU out to a march, a sit-in, or an event in real life? What issue would push you beyond just engaging online and why?
Being in the blue-green learning community, I am obviously passionate to some extent about the environment. With my learning community I hope to attend protests like they have done in the past and do real action to show the government how many people actually care about climate change and the environment’s health.

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Jacob Osmer
Jesse Miller
ENG110
11/16/2023
Project 3 Essay – 400 word draft
(I don’t really have a thesis yet, and I’m still trying to figure out if Kelley is who I want to use for this essay. I’ve found some quotes to use from Gladwell already, but I need to figure out my stance on activism and what my body paragraphs will be about.)
Intro
Our world today is filled with many who claim to be activists, armchair warriors posting their opinions on social media believing that this will lead to revolution and change. But can this really be considered activism? Malcolm Gladwell, a Canadian journalist and author of “Small Change” wrote an essay featured in the New Yorker about social media’s inability to promote change and those who participate aren’t really activists. Gladwell compares the activism of the past, like during segregation, to what is perceived as activism today.
Kevin Kelley is (Find stuff about Kelley) and author of “Technophilia”, an essay about humanity’s love for technology. In it, he discusses how we have formed a bond with technology and

Potential other authors to use:
Tough:
Carr “Is Google making us stupid?”
Anderson “In defense of distraction” –
Could probably use:
Kelley “Technophilia” – Add upon Gladwell’s ideas of the newer generations taking to social media by using quotes from Kelley.

I’m not sure if Kelley would agree with Gladwell that social media activism isn’t real activism, but I do think that Kelley would agree that social media has become

Body 1 – What people think social media is doing/ our love for technology
“The world, we are told, is in the midst of a revolution. The new tools of social media have reinvented social activism.” Gladwell introduces what most people believe – social media is a mode of activism in todays world
Moldova, Iran
“Some of this grandiosity is to be expected. Innovators tend to be solipsists. They often want to cram every stray fact and experience into their new model.” – this can be compared to Kelley’s essay. People want to believe that technology is doing good, so they bend the facts to make it that way.
Body 2 – Real vs social media activism?
Talk about how Moldova and Iran really had nothing to do with social media.
Real:
Protesters all has strong connections to each other and personally involved in whatever they are protesting
“And the primary determinant of who showed up was “critical friends”—the more friends you had who were critical of the regime the more likely you were to join the protest.”
Social Media:
“The platforms of social media are built around weak ties. Twitter is a way of following (or being followed by) people you may never have met. Facebook is a tool for efficiently managing your acquaintances, for keeping up with the people you would not otherwise be able to stay in touch with. That’s why you can have a thousand “friends” on Facebook, as you never could in real life.” – social media is full of weak connections between those who cannot consider themselves real friends
“As the historian Robert Darnton has written, “The marvels of communication technology in the present have produced a false consciousness about the past—even a sense that communication has no history, or had nothing of importance to consider before the days of television and the Internet.” But there is something else at work here, in the outsized enthusiasm for social media. Fifty years after one of the most extraordinary episodes of social upheaval in American history, we seem to have forgotten what activism is.” –

–
Body 3 – not sure yet
–
Conclusion
–
Works Referenced
Cite Malcolm Gladwell’s “Small Changes”
Cite Kevin Kelley’s “Technophilia”??

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Jacob Osmer

Jesse Miller

ENG110

11/16/2023

Project 3 Essay – 800 word draft

Intro

            Our world today is filled with many who claim to be activists, armchair warriors posting their opinions on social media believing that this will lead to revolution and change. But can this really be considered activism? Malcolm Gladwell, a Canadian journalist and author of “Small Change” wrote an essay featured in the New Yorker about social media’s inability to promote change and those who participate aren’t really activists. Gladwell compares the activism of the past, like during segregation, to what is perceived as activism today.

Kevin Kelley is the author of “Technophilia”, an essay about humanity’s love for technology. In it, he discusses how we have formed a bond with technology. “Our identity with technology runs deep, to our core,” he says (Kelley 1).

I’m not sure if Kelley would agree with Gladwell that social media activism isn’t real activism because I can’t put words into his mouth, but I do think Gladwells opinions on societies new obsession with praising social media for what they think it can do fits with Kelley’s idea of technophilia.

I think that having the work act right in it, activism should require real action, like attending protests, writing letters to officials, or doing anything that physically makes an effort to make change. <put this in intro or conclusion maybe? Potentially in real vs social media activism paragraph>

Body 1 – What people think social media is doing/ our love for technology

            In “Small Changes” Gladwell introduces what the medias perception of social media activism tends to be, referencing events that happened in Moldova and Iran. “The world, we are told, is in the midst of a revolution. The new tools of social media have reinvented social activism… When ten thousand protesters took to the streets in Moldova in the spring of 2009 to protest… the action was dubbed the Twitter Revolution, because of the means by which the demonstrators had been brought together.” From this perspective, it seems like social media is doing wonders in the world of activism. It has helped protestors communicate in places like Moldova and Iran. But is this really the case? Gladwell brings up a few good points, like how most tweeting about the Iranian protests were done in English — why would protestors in Iran be writing in languages other than Farsi? Also, there are very few Twitter accounts present in Moldova, so could it have been a significant tool to the protestors? Gladwell understand this though, saying “Some of this grandiosity is to be expected. Innovators tend to be solipsists. They often want to cram every stray fact and experience into their new model” (Gladwell CITE PAGE).

Body 2 – Real vs social media activism?

Real:

            Protesters all had strong connections to each other and personally involved in whatever they are protesting

            “And the primary determinant of who showed up was “critical friends”—the more friends you had who were critical of the regime the more likely you were to join the protest.”

Social Media:

            “The platforms of social media are built around weak ties. Twitter is a way of following (or being followed by) people you may never have met. Facebook is a tool for efficiently managing your acquaintances, for keeping up with the people you would not otherwise be able to stay in touch with. That’s why you can have a thousand “friends” on Facebook, as you never could in real life.” – social media is full of weak connections between those who cannot consider themselves real friends

“As the historian Robert Darnton has written, “The marvels of communication technology in the present have produced a false consciousness about the past—even a sense that communication has no history, or had nothing of importance to consider before the days of television and the Internet.” But there is something else at work here, in the outsized enthusiasm for social media. Fifty years after one of the most extraordinary episodes of social upheaval in American history, we seem to have forgotten what activism is.” Darnton writes about how people think most advancements in communication technology have only happened in recent history with the invention of the internet, but that is not true. Long before phones there were methods of communication, cave paintings, letters, the printing press, telegrams. Humans have always been able to communicate in some form or another, and all social media has done is create yet another medium to do so.

Body 3 – not sure yet

            –

Conclusion

            –

Works Referenced

Cite Malcolm Gladwell’s “Small Changes”

Cite Kevin Kelley’s “Technophilia”

——————————————————————————————————————–

Jacob Osmer

Jesse Miller

ENG110

11/16/2023

Project 3 Essay – 1200 words Peer review draft

Intro

            Our world today is filled with many who claim to be activists, armchair warriors[GU1] [JO2]  [GU3] posting their opinions on social media believing that this will lead to revolution and change. But can this really be considered activism?[GU4]  Malcolm Gladwell, a Canadian journalist and author of “Small Change”, wrote an essay featured in the New Yorker about social media’s inability to promote change and those who participate in social media activism aren’t really activists.[GU5]  Gladwell compares the activism of the past, like sit-ins during segregation, to what is perceived as activism today. Kevin Kelley is the author of “Technophilia”, an essay about humanity’s love for technology. In it, he discusses how we have formed a strong bond with technology and how “our identity with technology runs deep, to our core,” he says (Kelley 1). Our love for technology, as discussed in [GU6] “Technophilia”, leaves many of us blindly praising social media, ignorant to the fact that social media activism cannot achieve the same results as real activism can due to its inherent flaws, a network based on weak connections, low risk, and low motivation. [GU7] 

            Social media is given too much credit when it comes to how much it has actually done to organize protests and promote change due to our love for technology.[GU8]  In “Small Changes” Gladwell introduces what the general populations’ perception of social media activism tends to be, referencing events that happened in Moldova and Iran. [GU9] “The world, we are told, is in the midst of a revolution. The new tools of social media have reinvented social activism… When ten thousand protesters took to the streets in Moldova in the spring of 2009 to protest… the action was dubbed the Twitter Revolution, because of the means by which the demonstrators had been brought together (Gladwell 3)”. From this perspective, it seems like social media is doing wonders in the world of activism and has helped protestors communicate in places like Moldova and Iran. But is this really the case? Gladwell brings up a few good points, like how most tweeting about the Iranian protests were done in English — why would protestors in Iran be writing in languages other than Farsi? Also, there are very few Twitter accounts present in Moldova, so could it really have been a significant tool to the protestors? But Gladwell understands why advocates for social media have been making these statements, saying “Some of this grandiosity is to be expected. Innovators tend to be solipsists. They often want to cram every stray fact and experience into their new model” (Gladwell 4). A solipsist is a person who is self-centered, or selfish. Of course, those who like social media would praise social media. This reminds me of a claim that Kelley made in “Technophilia”, “A doctor may love his/her stethoscope, as both badge and tool; a writer might cherish a special pen and feel its smooth weight pushing the words on their own; a dispatcher can love his ham radio, relishing its hard-won nuances, as a magical door to other realms that opens to him alone; and a programmer can easily love the root operating code of a computer for its essential logical beauty.[GU10] ” Kelley describes how we essentially fall in love with the tools that we use on a daily basis, and I think, in some way, that those who use social media every day regard it as a tool through which they can spread their opinions. It seems that people forget that humans still had effective forms of communication prior to digital technology[GU11] . Gladwell quotes a historian, “As the historian Robert Darnton has written, ‘The marvels of communication technology in the present have produced a false consciousness about the past—even a sense that communication has no history, or had nothing of importance to consider before the days of television and the Internet.’ But there is something else at work here, in the outsized enthusiasm for social media. Fifty years after one of the most extraordinary episodes of social upheaval in American history, we seem to have forgotten what activism is.” Darnton writes about how people think most advancements in communication technology have only happened in recent history with the invention of the internet, and how this viewpoint is not true. Long before phones were other methods of communication, like cave paintings, smoke signals, written letters, the Gutenberg printing press, typewriters, and telegrams. Humans have always been able to communicate in some form or another, and all social media has done is create yet another medium to do so.Our perception of how much social media has actually improved how we communicate may be inflated by our intrinsic love for technology.[GU12] [GU13] 

            I think the biggest difference between real and social media activism is how much risk or sacrifice is made for the cause.[GU14]  Having the word act right in it, activism should require real action, like attending protests, writing letters to officials, or doing anything that physically tries to enact change. [GU15] This contrasts with social media activism, like posting a story, retweeting, or liking posts. In his essay, Gladwell does an excellent job at making his thoughts on real and social media activism concrete. For real activism to be effective, due to the high risk, the protestors all must have strong connections to each other, and are typically involved and/or directly impacted by what they are protesting, like those who participated in the sit-ins at the diner. Gladwell describes the Berlin Wall protests,[GU16]  “And the primary determinant of who showed up was ‘critical friends’—the more friends you had who were critical of the regime the more likely you were to join the protest” (Gladwell 6). In my Intro to Environmental Issues course, we learned that our most important role in a protest is not necessarily anything we do but is simply to show up.[GU17]  To force the creation of policies and enact change, lawmakers must be shown that so many people are so passionate about the issue that they feel the need to come together in protest. Similar to how many people were affected by the Berlin Wall, everyone is affected directly and indirectly by climate change, but how can “showing up” be done on social media? Social media activism as Gladwell describes is built on the existing foundations of social media. He says, “The platforms of social media are built around weak ties. Twitter is a way of following (or being followed by) people you may never have met. Facebook is a tool for efficiently managing your acquaintances, for keeping up with the people you would not otherwise be able to stay in touch with. That’s why you can have a thousand ‘friends’ on Facebook, as you never could in real life.” Gladwell claims that while social media allows you to “friend” thousands of people, real connections cannot be formed.[GU18]  On social media it is easy to get your thousand “friends” to join you in “save the whales!” or “racism is bad”[GU19] , but the connections just aren’t strong enough to motivate real action, like the real activism Gladwell described. And this is exactly what makes the social media activism today so far removed from real activism. What they are fighting for may be a noble cause, but a post on social media pales in comparison to getting out on the streets and demanding action. Don’t get me wrong, social media activism isn’t completely useless, but I just don’t think it can be compared to real activism.[GU20]  In Gladwell’s piece, he mentions a story about Sameer Bhatia, a man who needed a bone-marrow transplant but couldn’t find a donor due to the extreme lack of South Asians in the bone-marrow database. Through the help of Facebook pages, YouTube videos, and e-mail, twenty-five thousand new donors were registered in the bone-marrow database, and he was able to find a match. Social media is effective at spreading awareness quickly and promoting low-risk activism. Since signing up to a donor database is very easy, and the only sacrifice is a bit of time, social media was the perfect platform to call for action. (I think I’d like to make a concluding statement which directly states what my opinion is, social media vs real activism).

Conclusion – unfinished (obviously)

            While social media activism certainly can still get things done and create solutions, it cannot be valued the same as real activism. Those who sit in the comfort of their own homes tweeting  away cannot be compared to those out on the streets fighting for what they believe in.

Works Referenced[GU21] 

Gladwell, Malcolm. “Small Changes”. New Yorker Annals of Innovation, October 2010.

Kelley, Kevin. “Technophilia” (FINISH CITING)

[GU22] 

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