Reflection Blog #2: Participatory Culture as it relates to Social Media Studies

Participatory culture has become a concept intertwined in the daily lives of young learners. From afterschool activities to in-classroom applications, students are challenged with experiences that give them the skills needed to thrive in a media held society. Participatory culture is the relatively easy access to creative media outlets that promote captivating participation in society through a strong support community and mentorship. When students are provided with these experiences, it challenges their current skillset and progresses their abilities in digital literacy. As we know, digital skills are a requirement in a technology-driven world. Having the ability to use judgment and decision-making, performing adequately while being able to multi-task, having collective intelligence while maintaining distributed cognition, and performing and networking through negotiation online are all required to diving through the endless capabilities the internet holds (Jenkins, Clinton, Purushotma, Robinson & Weigel, 2009). Young learners have developed in a world so bound by technology that they have unconsciously gained many of these skills. However, they are required at a certain depth in order to be most effective; which is where the importance of access to participatory cultures comes in.

One way in which this can easily be achieved is through the constructive use of social media. Social media holds a range of purposes from entertainment to socialization to education. Scrolling through your Twitter feed, users can view videos shared by their friends, like images from their favorite celebrities, read about current politics, and so on. Everyday use of social media not only maintains our social relationships but, it provides ample opportunity to learn easily. Social media is a participatory culture when used in the correct way. As Henry Jenkins mentioned in his TedTalk, “58% of American teens have produced media” (Jenkins, 2010). This is an outstanding statistic that showcases the ways in which young people have used social media to create content that relates to their own passions and passed this on to their peers. The connected learning that is done through this content creation and sharing promotes digital literacy skills in a participatory culture. This is all often done without the users fully realizing it. Social media engagement is so accessible that it is not often consciously rendered as learning, but it is. Say one student creates a fun video with the help of their uncle regarding gun safety. They then share this with their friends and they join a club for gun safety. Not only is this student expressing their passions in a creative way, but they are also creating a support community that can be very expansive. The lengths to which social media can allow users to learn is nearly never-ending. The mentorship and support community that is introduced through a participatory culture allows young adults to learn in a way that is meaningful to them. It also introduces and puts into practice the skills needed to navigate the online world.

I personally have used social media in a participatory culture without realizing it. I love to be able to easily talk to my friends and family and share with them information I learned online. Especially related to the current political season, I like to share new information I read online with my loved ones. This requires digital literacy skills of me that I was previously unconscious of doing. From negotiating what information is most important to using judgment and collective intelligence to navigate through false media, using social media requires of us the ability to handle and direct vast amounts of information. While this is a challenge, it also what motivates me to be critical in my use of the internet. The virtual world is not going anywhere, especially in times of COVID. Thus, the practice of using social media allows me to be a better judge in my use.

My social media use has drastically changed in nature not only since the pandemic but, also since the start of this course. Online school has been a challenge for me as well as many others. The internet is now our classroom. The digital literacy skills I previously had have been honed in through my expansive use of technology and through the education this course has provided me with. As discussed in previous weeks, the Connected Learning Model is a new approach to learning that combines individual passion with a community to reach new opportunities that reflect personal interest (Connected Learning Alliance, 2018). I feel that this has been deeply reflected in the new virtual learning environment the pandemic has provided us with. While we still have our standard courses to take and assignments to do, the expansion of our internet use has allowed us to gain the skills needed to use the information to the best of our ability. I have used social media applications like Twitter and Facebook to complete assignments. This came from the skills I have learned through this course in that any social media can be useful for education as long as we use our skills to know which material is useful and which is not. Even this assignment I am typing now is an example of the ways in which digital technology is shaping the learning environment.

From the classroom to chatting with friends, participatory culture is eminent in the new-age virtual world we live in. The easy access we have to social media allows us to join supportive communities online that reflect common interest and education. I have used Facebook to share global news with my friends. I have used Twitter to find references for assignments. I have translated my interest in podcasts into joining community groups and even completing the Podcast assignment for this course. These are all ways in which social media and the internet promote education when used in the right ways. I believe more opportunities for participatory culture are growing by the day and allowing learners to gain the experience and skills needed to thrive in a world dependent on the internet.