0:05
Hello, hello Hello, we are back with another episode I’m Bria and you’re listening to W WT D, what would tech do? So let’s get into the episode.

0:25
So I don’t know about you, but when I think of change can kind of come with, oh, I can do that, or a bunch of groans and complaining, until I’ve realized that I really do have to do that.

0:41
And regardless, while we’re changing, there comes a point in time where we have to go a different direction from the things that we’re so used to doing, even if it might be painful to do so. And this can be the same concept with technology.

0:59
Throughout our lifespan, some more than others, we’ve seen movies, TV shows, read books, and witnessed firsthand how much technology has evolved, and where it has the potential to go.

1:11
I mean, for example, back in the day, me and my cousins and friends, our definition of fun was, you know, going outside and playing these days, the kids definition of fun is, you know, getting a Roblox automatically on a computer, tick tock, things have changed.

1:32
One of the bigger changes, or maybe the biggest change, when it comes to this is the way we engage with one another, also known as participatory culture. And in this episode I want to try to find an answer to is participatory culture. For better or for worse, and to help you better understand my sentiments.

2:00
In the rest of the podcast, I will give you two official definitions in regards to what exactly participatory culture is. The first one being from New Learning opportunities.com, in which it states a participatory culture is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement.

2:24
Whereas Wikipedia defines it as an opposing concept to consumer culture in which private individuals do not act as consumers only, but also as contributors or producers. But that being said, I will say with participatory culture, it definitely does take one thing to make it work.

2:42
And that is, you guessed it participation, we can’t do anything without it, specifically, or especially within technology. I mean, it essentially drives everything that we do, we can’t continue a project without some form of feedback. We can’t know that a product works without having someone tested. We can’t be able to drive the cars that we drive without somebody test driving it, right.

3:14
And so that’s what I want to think about when we think about this culture, but more so when it comes to what we’re doing to advance.

3:33
With new media and the rise in social media, we don’t really have to worry about what people think of us. If you care about things like that. We can literally go on Twitter, or tick tock make a video or post about something and if you have the following or if you don’t, if your posts, catch catches wind, we really can see what people think. And most automatically.

4:08
As I said before, we wouldn’t be where we are in this world without people participating in the buying, selling and interaction of tech.

4:34
Participatory culture has its pros and cons. And I guess I should start off with the pros because it’s always good to start off with the good rather than the bad.

4:51
I know one thing that I’ve noticed in regards to participatory culture nowadays is definitely enhanced Just one’s ability to become an influencer.

5:04
There are so many opportunities for people to get paid from their content and have other career opportunities that can lead them to another level, just outside of, you know, producing content for tick tock Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

5:22
So I gave you the good news first. I mean, this can either be good news or bad news, depending on how you take it. But for consumers to display their opinions on the social media sites, anywhere on the media, whether it be in a blog post, it can be posted for others to see. And that is when the continuation of interaction comes into play.

5:49
Everything requires some form of interaction in order for it to work. And with the rise of social media, participatory culture is inevitable, whether it’s with content you want to see or not. So going back to my last episode, the algorithm has a lot to do with this. Specifically, when I said this, I think it’s interesting when we take a look at our own algorithms, whether it be on social media, whether it be on streaming services, YouTube, it’s interesting, because we can look at our own and think nothing wrong of it.

6:22
But if we look at somebody else’s, and it may reflect something completely different, we may have thoughts and opinions on that, because it doesn’t reflect what we think or what we know. So coming back to this episode, I think one of the bigger issues surrounding participatory culture is oftentimes there’s so many opinions that it’s hard to not be swayed in a different direction in terms of how you feel about something personally.

6:55
And I know it’s definitely not all negative, but it’s also not all positive reposts, and comments agreeing with the unpopular food opinions.

7:05
We can call it like we see it and basically say it’s a matter of like and dislike, I mean, there are plenty of things on the internet that I’ve simply don’t agree with.

7:16
And there are things on the internet that I do agree with. Sometimes where I agree with might be the unpopular opinion. And I’m gonna go live on my fish through the comments to see if somebody else agrees with me.

7:30
Or maybe my share the same sentiment in this form of culture, or definitely revolves around the consumers opinions, which can literally drive the success or destruction of the Creator, if a large enough amount of consumers dislikes content that can have the tendency to overshadow those who like that specific type of content. So basically, negativity has turned into the norm.

7:58
And yes, I did air quotes cycle of posting and responding to whatever is popular at the moment has allowed for a darker side of new media to be exposed.

8:13
And there are some general ways to get around not seeing things that you might not want to see.

8:21
But going back to my sentiments regarding the algorithm, we’re bound to see these thoughts and opinions that might differ from ours, just based on how information is spread online, which is also spread via the algorithm.

8:45
So this is the part where I tell you about a cure air quotes inserted again.

8:51
Personally, I don’t think there will ever be a laid out plan in terms of cure for people who are simply existing under their First Amendment right.

9:00
So in terms of a cure, I mean, there could be stricter guidelines on social media applications, but they kind of already allow users the ability to take further steps.

9:09
If something offensive, they said, or as a post may display bullying, and let’s be honest, people don’t really use that feature. It would also be great if people could just be kind and nice, regardless of their opinions.

9:23
But the reality is, somebody’s got to be the bad guy here. Those listening can agree that we all engage in participatory culture. And we probably all think our opinions are right.

9:35
the reality is with new media, everyone has the same thought. Hence why we’ve gotten into this environment where participatory culture may have kind of gotten out of hand. I hope in the future, we make more strides to becoming better with the use of media.

9:50
And I do want to go back to the question posed earlier in the episode is participatory culture. For better or worse. I’m

10:02
here we have this great aspect of new media, which participatory culture has existed for as long as there have been people to create things, you know,

10:13
but I think with the advancement of technology and with new media, social media, all the media is there are pros and cons to everything. And participatory culture is just one of those things where

10:32
we can agree to disagree. But I think the one thing we can agree on is the fact thateverybody is always going to have their own platform to display their own opinions and nobody really has to interact

10:48
but if they choose to, those people also do have the freedom to like or dislike those opinions, respond to it. And the cycle kind of continues on from there.

11:09
So you gotten to the end of another episode of WWTD.

11:14
Thank you for listening and I will talk to you next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai