Blog Response: Area 51

Today I was catching up on some blogs and I read a piece, by Logan Emilia Black, that talked about a trending hashtag in the states. It is #Area51, and it’s in reference to a top-secret government base that people believe is home to some serious extra-terrestrial information. It started of as a meme about raiding the Area 51 base, but due to its popularity, it has gained traction from actually news outlets. Logan Emilia brings up a great point about the damaging affects that things like this can have on our society. Social media platforms can be so beneficial because they can bring real issues to the forefront of conversation, but when peoples feeds get clogged with something like #Area 51, it can take away from the big picture.

On the other hand, trending hashtags can be catalysts for big movements in our society. For example, social media played a huge role in the #MeToo movement, and helped woman gain a public space for them to share their stories. The same thing goes for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Social media allowed for it to gain so much publicity in a short amount of time, that it may not have gained without social media. In that sense, I think social media is exactly what we need in this day and age, but on the other hand, I think it can have really negative effects.

Logan Emilia brings up another great point about social media. She talks about the fact that the purpose of social media has lost it’s meaning. It was created to keep up with your friends and family with a tap of your finger, but instead its turned into a major distraction from the real life things going on around us. On top of that, social media has been known to be an actual addiction and it prevents people from actually being present. It’s just ironic that something that was created to connect people is doing the exact opposite at the same time.

While the whole #Area51 trend seemed like a funny new meme, it actually represents some of the things that are wrong with the internet and social media. It’s important for us to recognize the pros and cons, so we don’t get swept up in the addictiveness that social media presents itself with.