The 24/7 Media Cycle, Good and Bad

 In recent weeks it has become evident that the Israeli government has come to an arrangement with Google to push propaganda through their social media platform, YouTube. This deal is a six-month long ploy to dismay reports of the famine and genocide taking place in Gaza and the Palestinians. Recent reports put the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza at 64,000. As Gaza continues to be under siege, Israel continues to demand support from its allies while making plans for a potential victory. Advertisements have already started, painting Israel as a tourist destination, I have been seeing more of these types of ads in the last two weeks on YouTube. My blogs all circle back to the 24/7 news cycle, and YouTube is a huge part of that cycle and can be a powerful tool to steer people to certain content.  As of this year, more than two billion people worldwide use YouTube, putting it only behind Facebook in terms of active users on a social media platform. As the Pro-Israel propaganda ...

Misinformation has been running rampant in the 24/7 news cycle for decades, and with the advent of social media this has become only more apparent. Webster's dictionary defines misinformation as incorrect or misleading information. A recent example is the murder of former podcaster and political activist Charlie Kirk. Nearly two weeks later and the amount of misinformation coming from major media outlets has not only been constant but also damaging to the public's ability to wait for all the facts to come out. Charlie Kirks alleged killer, a young man by the name of Tyler Robinson, was the source of widespread misinformation. Social media platforms were ablaze with people claiming to have info on Robinson without any supporting evidence. Some people wanted or expected him to be a registered republican while others assumed he was transgender and had a mental illness. Possibly to the disappointment of both groups, Tyler is a cis white male who is not a registered republican and h...

 Arguably the most revolutionary invention of human history is the internet. Since its dawn in the early 90s to the present, the internet has connected the world in ways we could have only imagined a hundred years ago. Every single continent has some sort of access to the internet, and in turn the world. Unlike news broadcasters, weathermen or talk show hosts, the internet never sleeps. Unfortunately, the protections or lack thereof on the internet were doomed from the start. In 1996, the Communications Decency Act, particularly section 230, protects platforms on the internet and their free speech and removes nearly all responsibility for potential users' illegal activities. Effectively, almost anything goes on these platforms if they can maneuver the legal limits of the system. This is one of the many reasons we see extremists' positions and groups forming in online spaces. Groups of people in echo chambers reacting to negative news to bolster their own prejudices twenty-four ...

Since the start of the COVID19 pandemic, the act of doomscrolling has become a pressing issue for those with access to a mobile device and social media platforms. Webster's dictionary defines doomscrolling as spending large amounts of time scrolling through news that makes you feel sad or angry. Of course, during the lockdown period of COVID-19 all of us were glued to our phones and social media platforms more than ever before. On top of this, we still had news networks on television providing us with 24/7 coverage. Whether it be the ever-rising death tolls of COVID-19 taking up a portion of the screen to remind viewers of serious threat this virus posed, or the economy tanking and inflation on the climb. All this negativity being pushed out constantly can and will result in people developing health issues. Some examples include insomnia, panic attacks, depression, and anxiety. Clearly, the consequences of doomscrolling are very serious and can be applied to the 24/7 news cycle as ...