Analysis of “Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap”
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Analysis of “Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap”
The book “Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap” by Carrie James focus on the involvement of the youths in the internet space and how they approach the social media. Technology advancement as a major process of devolution has made the world a media control sphere where people depend on the internet in carrying out their day to day life activities. It is right that the internet, as well as other media, has resulted to societal development where people interact positively, but it has also led to negative effects that are devastating to the adolescents’ growth. The young people are the most affected by the media as they have been brought up in the community where digital technology is the order of the day, thus seek a sense of belonging in these platforms. According to Carrie James, there are thinking gaps in the society which includes disconnects and blind spots which are instigated by different forms of thinking like moral, self-focused and ethical thinking. In her research, Carrie James involved a hundred and forty-three participants that had the age ranging between ten to twenty-five years. In this discussion, the analysis of “Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap” is done in an in-depth extent in consideration of the ethics in the new media as well as how the text amplifies the issues regarding the youth’s internet approach.
Throughout the book, Carrie James has depicted hoe the young people at the teenage as well as young adulthood perceives the media in the modern society. Carrie James has developed the chapters at a far-sighted way where she brings in various matters arising in the community regarding media, and she has ended with a topic that tells the adverse effects social media platforms as well as their advantages (James & Jenkins, 2014). Her primary focus when writing the book was illustrating how the young people think and react to the contradicting issues that daily arise when using the internet. In the book, she puts in point the concepts that are alarming regarding the internet use as well as the matters that are important to think about when it comes to the youths online conducts. According to her argument, there are some disconnections and blind sports the acts as a hindrance to the youths putting into consideration the ethical and moral limits in their online activities. Carrie James precisely elaborates steps that show where the gaps occur in the young people perceptions toward online services and also provides sound solutions in curbing the issue. The adults are considered as the vessels to apply these remedies to on the interest to mentor the young people towards more ethical online conducts.
In the first chapter of the book, Carrie James illustrates the three types of thinking which include ethical, self-focused and moral reflection. The self-focused reasoning involved the act of an individual getting at the main point of argument and the conclusion made are based on one’s assessment at the personal level. Moral thinking regards sympathetic rationale where the individuals cognitive allows one to put in consideration of how the close people which include friends, neighbors as well as the family are affected by an issue. On the other side, ethical thinking has the same bases as moral thinking, but in this instance, a wide range of the people who are a distance away and not specified are considered.
It is significantly seen in various forms such as community thinking, multiple viewpoints taking as well as responsibilities and roles thinking. The significant perceptions in understanding the online gap that exists in the society regarding the youth’s internet behaviors are disconnects and blind sports. Blind spots tend to occur when an individual depicts self-interest at the expense of others without his or her awareness which is led by the impacts of unintentional and insensible conducts. On the other hand, disconnects are contradictory to blind spots as they take place when an individual realizes either an ethical or moral scenario and significantly assumes it for a self-favoring choice. For instance, in the social media platform today people spread information as well as artwork which are unethical or biased in a way or the other for self-beneficiaries without the awareness of how they affect others in the society as well as the prejudice they instigate.
In chapter two, Carrie James talks about privacy as well as the issues related to it when it comes to the youth’s application of internet and social networking. Privacy issues are often experienced among the teenagers in the online platforms as they are the vast users of the social media sites as a way of socializing as well as sharing lots of materials and information with family and friends. According to Carrie James in her research, she approached privacy among the young people in three distinct ways where it considered in the individual’s hands, forsaken and social (Kim, 2015). Considering social privacy, the young people tend to trust the people they are connected with when it comes to the privacy issues. For instance, in the process of posting a picture or any other information, one thinks that it is right to share the post with the connected friends and they is a high expectation of them approving the position.
When it comes to privacy in your hand, the youths understand that the information is not a public thing and that the online social network does not have privacy. Instead, the individual will restrict the information and share it with specified people who are intended to get the post. In the third part regarding confidentiality forsaken, the youths are aware that in the online social platforms there is no privacy and at the end, the information will be saved at various servers and be shared among other people. They also know that there is a capability of the data being viewed by a third party such as the administrative authority. Carrie James argues that the adults who are there to guide and direct the youths on media issues are substantially focused on the private safety information, and they do not get to the moral and ethical limitations.
Furthermore, Carrie James focuses on the property matters where she puts in consideration authorship as well as ownership of the materials. When it comes to making use of the online resources, the youths tend to forget about the duplicate productions which they in many instances. Many of these duplicates might compose the wrong information which contradicts with the original one. The young people claim that it is appropriate to use the materials on the internet even if they are unethical justifying that they are produced for commercial purposes. Also, the youths are not considered about the issues regarding copyright which is an authorized and they do not know the consequences. In many instances, the young people make decisions for their benefits without considering the ethical and moral values that may influence the society (Haack, 2015).
The other widespread standpoint regarding the social internet platforms involves people’s participation in media activities such as negative dialog and destructive gaming behaviors. Many youths get into deleterious communication situations in the online platform which ends up affecting their speech even with their friends resulting in the degrading of the ethical values in the community. They are also involved in gaming which is self-focused where they might end up using ill language on to others who significantly feel neglected and end up regretting. Excellent examples include game scamming and the play excellent which at many scenarios depicts poor mind and it is related to adverse information and language. At the last chapter, Carrie James tries to come up with the practical solutions against the illustrated disconnects and blind spots when it comes to the youth’s use of online platforms. Where she concludes that the adults among which parents, teachers and other community members have the responsibility of guiding and educating the youths about privacy, privacy matters as well as thinking regarding the internet online socializing.
As discussed above, Carrie James has perfectly illustrated the ethics in the new media as well as efficiently amplifying the youth’s approach towards internet and issues arising from its usage. It is right that the internet has been used in a substantial advantageous way when it comes to commercialization and sharing of positive information among other things, but significant steps are supposed to be adhered to curb its effects to the young generation. Youths are all the time involved and exposed to the threats of social media in the name of socializing without putting in consideration their privacy and property matters. It is the role of the parents, teachers as well as other elderly members of the community to educate the young people on the use of internet and challenges accompanied by online media.
References
Haack, S. M. (2015). Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap. Ethics & Medicine, 31(2), 127.
James, C., & Jenkins, H. (2014). Disconnected: Youth, new media, and the ethics gap. MIT Press.
Kim, S. H. (2015). Carrie James: Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap.
