The Age Of Unenlightenment Analysis: the Impact of Online Media

In the article“The age of unenlightenment,” writer Robert Armstrong claims that online media is making people believe they are more intelligent than they actually are. This is because people are using it to broadcast their opinions as if it is absolute fact, and people are believing it because they think that online media and other forms of social media is the smartest source, when it is really an empty source. Armstrong argues that searching information up online gives people an idea of knowledge, but neglects to give the real thing. This is causing people to believe that they are smart, when in fact that information had came from someone else, and that information from someone else, and so on. It is a cycle of false information that is being transferred from reader to reader and is giving them knowledge that is making them appear smart when really not, and is changing their beliefs.

In “Your political posts on social media are actually changing minds-sometimes,” writer Steven Overly argues that social media is reshaping people’s political views because other people are writing their opinions about the candidates. This idea connects to Armstrong’s claim because what Overly is arguing is that people will believe in anything they read on social media since it is a world where every piece of information is absorbed by every reader that scrolls by. Armstrong’s main argument is that people in society are slowly becoming less smart due to how much they consume from social media. Everyone has begun to think they know more than they actually do because the online media presents an idea, but does not give actual knowledge about it. He writes, “An internet search creates the impression of understanding, or even expertise, rather than the real thing (Armstrong, 8). ” What Armstrong means is that the internet is not doing what it is supposed to do by giving people information that is clear and correct.

Armstrong gives an example that refers to a toilet and a bike. “An example: try drawing a picture of a bicycle, with the chain, all the bits of the frame… all in the correct place. It is not so easy… explain how a flush toilet works. Easy? Well, unless you described how a trapway creates a siphoning effect, you got it wrong (Armstrong, 6). ” This quote is saying that people may think they know everything about bikes and toilets from their own everyday experiences, but the physics behind how both are made or how they work is something the internet will never actually tell them. Armstrong uses this example to back up his argument because it shows how people tend to think they are super smart when they really are not. In relation to Armstrong, “Your political posts on social media are changing minds-sometimes,” writer Steven Overly says how people’s political beliefs are being changed because of what is being read on social media about the candidates. This is because people are posting their opinions about the candidates because they believe those opinions are true, and is even changing the way they see those candidates.

Overly writes, “More respondents said social media posts made their impressions of the candidates more negative rather than positive (Overly, 6). ” This quote explains how people are believing in what is being said on social media because the information is catching their attention. This quote relates to Armstrong’s argument that social media changes the way we think and is making us less-smart because those posts about the candidates are coming from people with little knowledge about that particular person. Once those political opinion posts are absorbed by the readers, they then become equally blind to the real facts as the person who wrote it. In the article, “How Fiction Becomes Fact on Social Media,” writer Benedict Carey talks about how Russian hackers are creating fake social media accounts to leak false information as a way to interfere with the presidential campaign in 2016 between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Carey goes on saying how the social media sites are containing things on the feed that keeps people hooked on it. He writes, “For all the suspicions about social media companies’ motives and ethics, it is the interaction of the technology with our common, often subconscious psychological biases that makes so many of us vulnerable to misinformation, and this has largely escaped notice (Carey, 7). ” What this quote means is that people are choosing to base facts off of their opinions which is causing them to believe that they are smarter than they think. This backs up Armstrong’s argument because it shows how so many people are believing in false information because that information correlates with their opinions.