Sunday, November 24, 2024
The Weekly: Get top MTSU stories in your inbox by subscribing to The Weekly, a Sidelines newsletter delivered each Wednesday.

Social Media Theorist Douglas Rushkoff Gives Lecture on Mass Media

Date:

Share post:

By Ethan Clark//Staff Writer

Author and social media theorist Douglas Rushkoff gave a lecture about mass media at the Learning Resource Center Monday night.

Rushkoff, a lecturer and college professor from New York City, talked about the negative impacts of mass media on human relationships in America. Rushkoff said that companies like Apple and Facebook take the power to program and edit away from users so they can harvest information from their users to sell to advertisers.

“Program or be programmed,” Rushkoff said. “There’s no in between. If you are using a computer and you are not on some level the programmer of that machine, then you are the thing being programmed.”

Rushkoff went on to talk about the amount of influence mass media has over people in the way companies advertise and track our shopping habits. He said that if a company like Facebook has no clear source of revenue, then the product is probably the user.

“You can have a free flashlight as long as you give away your GPS information,” Rushkoff said. “You’re not paying with your money anymore, you’re paying with everything else there is about you.”

Although he painted a grim picture of the modern world, Rushkoff said there was a wayfor people to regain their independence from mass media. Once people understand the biases of the technologies and websites they use, Rushkoff said people can be become more informed users and know which products to avoid in order to maintain their privacy.

“Think twice about what’s going to keep you strange and original,” Rushkoff said when talking about ways to avoid fitting into a company’s algorithm. As an example, Rushkoff said he left his Netflix account playing random TV shows and movies so that Netflix’s algorithms would not be able to predict his behavior.

For campus news, follow us at www.mtsusidelines.com, on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on Twitter at @Sidelines_News

To contact news editor Max Smith, email newseditor@mtsusidelines.com.

Sidelines
Sidelineshttps://mtsusidelines.com
MTSU's digital daily news source

Related articles

Oakland emerges triumphant in playoff clash with Riverdale 

Feature Photo by Ephraim Rodenbach Story by Willie Phaler Are you not entertained?  Oakland head coach Kevin Creasy offered that message to his players and fan base after a nail-biting 49-46 comeback win in the TSSAA 6A state quarterfinals against Murfreesboro rival Riverdale.

MTSU football drops final home game of 2024

Feature Photo by Myles Valrie Story by Jacob Burgess Love was in the air during Middle Tennessee vs New Mexico State. MTSU center Julius Pierce proposed to his girlfriend, Brooklyn McIntosh, during the senior day celebrations. Unfortunately, that love turned to heartbreak as Middle Tennessee lost 36-21.

Are MTSU professors censored by the state?

Feature photo from Sidelines Archives Story by Noah McLane Last week, students received a biennial campus climate survey asking if...

TN student health survey allows students chance to give feedback on MTSU services

Feature photo from Sidelines Archive by Jenene Grover Story by Maia O'Brien MTSU students received the TN Together Higher Education...