If you are here on this blog, I assume that you came here because the title interest you–cause it did for me. To begin with, Gossip Girl: Transmedia Technologies by Lousia Stein (this week’s reading) brought up a lot of interesting points. This reading addressed the issues of digital technology in media and how Gossip Girl uses it in a way for the social elite in NY but also for creativity within the show. One thing that I noticed is that they talked about the dangers of digital power while also talking about the visions of digital transformation in the future. In connection with the main points of this reading, I was able to connect it to real-life situations and also a TV show called 9-1-1. The dichotomy in responses about this issue on TV is very interesting.
The debate of whether social media is toxic or not first occurred to me when I noticed a common theme throughout all of the episodes. Just to give you some context, 9-1-1 is a procedural show that showcases the lives of LA’s finest firefighters/first responders and how they deal with everyday calls along with bringing us in on their personal lives. Every episode starts off with a scene before an accident happens and it proceeds with a call being answered by a dispatcher. While the firefighters are arriving on the scene, there are people who are recording the accident– LITERALLY… IN EVERY EPISODE. For example, there was one episode where a bouncing house was floating in the air after it was loosened from the nail on the ground and a group of people from the party started recording. As people were recording, there was a small group of people who were assigning people tasks in order to help, but everybody was more interested in getting their footage.
I find these scenes interesting because it seems as if the writers wanted the viewers to understand how dangerous social media could be at times. After a few episodes of silence on the matter, the writers finally addressed it in Season 2 Episode 1 where a group of YouTubers thought it was a great idea to stick their friend’s head into a microwave fill with cement. After the friends realized what they did, we would think that they would have learned their lesson. But as the firefighter got the guy’s head out, they started recording again for their Youtube video. The Captain acted out of annoyance and threw the guy’s phone in the water. After the scene, the firefighters talk amongst themselves about the effect that digital technology has on society.
The dichotomy in responses about this issue on TV is very interesting. As the 2000s baby myself, I see how it is affecting us. However, I think there are ways that it helps us too. There have been times where recorded footage actually exposes the craziness that goes on behind closed doors. For example, the recent George Floyd case. We had video footage of what the police officer did to him. Without that, nobody would have known the true events that went on that day. Another episode in 9-1-1 featured social media being helpful instead of harmful. It was when the power in the call center went out and people were forced to use hashtags on social media in order to reach out for help. Overall, Social media should be used as a source of entertainment and of course community building. But it should not go to the point where we are neglecting each other for a virtual world experience.
