LOS ANGELES (KNX) – From the moment its disappearance first made headlines on Monday to OceanGate announcing Thursday that all members on board were declared “lost”, the Titan submersible garnered a lot of attention on social media.
Some of that attention drew memes, jokes, and even criticism. Fuel was added to the fire when the stepson of passengers Hamish Harding, shared on social media he was attending a Blink 182 concert while Harding was still missing.
Karen North the founder of USC Annenberg's Digital Social Media program told KNX In Depth that people lose any and all social cues while using social media.
“When people say things and when they're callous and lacking in compassion, there's nobody there to shake their head or to sort of look at them with that, you know, sort of shocked glance,” she said. ”People get sucked into behaviors that would otherwise be corrected in the real world.”
North added that while social does bring out the worst in people, it could also bring out the best and help us connect with others.
“Social media does provide us with the opportunity to hear things from people in places that we've never been about people we've never met,” she said. “It allows us to identify with them because one thing about social media is that it gives us the illusion that we have a personal connection with people even if we don't. So when people tell their stories on social media, it could become far more personal and far more emotional than just a regular news story.”
North also said it’s important to guide children and the younger generations through the usage of social media.
Some of that attention drew memes, jokes, and even criticism. Fuel was added to the fire when the stepson of passengers Hamish Harding, shared on social media he was attending a Blink 182 concert while Harding was still missing.
“When people say things and when they're callous and lacking in compassion, there's nobody there to shake their head or to sort of look at them with that, you know, sort of shocked glance and people get sucked into behaviors that would otherwise be corrected in the real world,” she said.
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