Does the innovation of smartphones alongside the internet corrupt morality?
Reflecting on the medium of social media and its effect on how we socialise
Late last year, John Green reflected on his year without social media. One of his striking comments occurs early in his vlog; “… I won’t be going back until either they change, or I do,” (vlogbrothers, 2019). Green continues with this sentiment by explaining his relationship with social media. It’s interesting to see how intertwined life and social media has become, and how Green can actively understand how a change to himself and how he uses social media can, in turn, alter this interconnectedness.
To break down the meme above, which follows the “Who Killed Hannibal” template (chosen to reflect the ‘death’ of how we used social media during its early stages), first understand what is meant about social media as a pastime.
Midway through my high school career, MySpace was popularised, and Facebook was in its infancy. In the early days, the only accessibility to these platforms was a computer. The likelihood of engaging with social media was limited to a person’s access to their computer, which may have formed part of their unwinding at the end of the day. I personally would only scroll through the posts for a short while, soon disengaging for another pastime, either video games or television. Facebook didn’t have Messenger, MSN was still used, and people didn’t have quick access to cameras in their pockets to take photos of every little thing during their day-to-day life. Paired with limited amateur photography was the photo limit on Facebook, forcing users to consider hard about what they’d publish online. In comparison, smartphones have allowed social media users constant access to these platforms. Not only that but as phones advanced, so too did the need to take photos. Suddenly a day out with friends includes photos of the event and a social media post.
Does the innovation of smartphones alongside the internet corrupt morality?
First, the definition of morality is difficult to summarise. Bernard and Joshua Gert discuss the issues with a single definition of morality, writing that one definition cannot be used in all moral decisions (Gert & Gert, 2020). According to Gert and Gert, morality can be given two broad descriptions, either in a descriptive sense or a normative sense (ibid). For the rest of this blog, the descriptive definition as theorised by Gert and Gert will be used to question the corruption of morality due to the innovation of smartphones alongside the internet:
“…descriptively to refer to certain codes of conduct put forward by a society or a group (such as a religion), or accepted by an individual for her own behavior,” (ibid)
In José van Dijck’s book titled The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media, Dijck’s writes about Pete Alvin’s attempts to disconnect from Facebook. Other than the difficulties of closing down a Facebook profile, which complicates the issue to ensure you’re certain about your decision to delete your profile, Alvin describes another problem he faced.
“What troubled him the most, though, were the negative reactions from his friends, relatives, and club members who complained they now had to send him separate emails to garner his attention,” (van, D.K. 2013, p 154–155).
Through this example, it’s clear how ingrained social media has become in regard to how we as a society socialise with one another. Socialisation has been reshaped and the differences when talking to different generations show how much alteration social media has had on society.
In regard to the inquiry question and the corruption of morality, the definition of corruption is just as important as the definition of morality. The Merriam-Webster dictionary lists a definition as “a departure from the original or from what is pure and correct,” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Therefore, yes. The innovation of social media alongside the internet has corrupted morality, as it has reshaped how society socialises with one another.
References
Gert, Bernard and Joshua Gert, “The Definition of Morality”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/morality-definition/>.
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Corruption. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved December 6, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corruption
van, D. J. (2013). The culture of connectivity : A critical history of social media. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
vlogbrothers. (2019). I took a year off social media. Here’s what happened. [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SERiv_TCg9E&ab_channel=vlogbrother
