Moral Panic from a Social Media Perspective and the Counter Measures

Moral Panic from a Social Media Perspective
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Moral Panic from a Social Media Perspective
‘Moral panic’ as a term came into the limelight in the late ‘60s although there is a significant conviction that Stanley Cohen advanced the popularity of this concept. One justification for this assertion is that the first paragraph in his book Folk Devils and Moral Panics: the Cratio of the Mods and Rocker is among the most cited piece when it comes to this concept (Rowe, 2009). Cohen (2002, p. 1) defines a moral panic as “a condition, episode, person or group of persons” perceived to possess a significant threat to the community’s or society’s interests, safety, and values. News media perpetuate this idea while politicians fuel it and at times results in new policies and laws meant to curb against the growth of the panic. Conclusively, moral panics could be regarded as the societal response when it identifies a deviant group or behavior.
Human civilization has progressed immensely since the turn of the 21stCentury. Social media platforms form one element of technology that has changed how people communicate and socialize entirely. The number of accounts on these platforms is a testimony to their growing influence. For instance, Facebook alone has 2.38 billion monthly active users as of March 31, 2019. The company’s daily active users are at 1.56 billion (Appel, Grewal, Hadi, & Stephen, 2020). Further, “22% of teenagers log on to their favorite social media site more than 10 times a day” (Ocansey, Ametepe, &Oduro, 2016, p. 87). In essence, any folk of devils in this space, as Cohen refers to them, will affect the youth's significance. The folk devils are majorly the “visible reminders of what we should not be” (Cohen, 2002, p. 2). They take a significant share of the blame for the societal malaise that arises.
Social media has become the hotspot for the production of public knowledge with the millennial and generation Z being the major consumers. This aspect has presented the most exciting questions today contributing to the ensuing moral panic. The panic guarantees that there will be an immense struggle for social media to transcend the boundaries of normality, truth, as well as order. To investigate this issue further, it is important to realize how social media platforms upend conventional “flows of information and power” (Falkof, 2020, p. 229). Further, many scholars in this specific niche have failed to take into account the position of digital communications in enhancing moral panic and instead, focused on mass-broadcasting media. This discussion endears to seek another path that enlightens more on the issue.
The Relationship between Social Media and Moral Panic among the Youth
There have been sweeping transformations of media systems since the last century thereby enhancing the justification as to why this connection must be substantiated. The consequences of these progressives have been robust opportunities for people and information pluralism leading to the neglect of how digital platforms are not only...