9699 · 9.3
The impact of the new media flashcards
Revision flashcards for Cambridge 9699 The impact of the new media (syllabus 9.3). Flip, recall, then mark a real past-paper question.
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Networked individualism?
Wellman — personal networks replace traditional community ties online.
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Echo chamber?
Algorithms expose users to similar views — polarisation risk.
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Surveillance capitalism?
Zuboff — platforms profit from behavioural data prediction.
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Slacktivism?
Low-cost online support may replace deeper activism (critics).
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Digital activism success?
#MeToo raised awareness; sustained change requires offline action too.
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Regulation debates?
Free speech vs harm — misinformation, hate speech, age limits.
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Digital Divide
The gap between social groups who have access to, and the skills to use, digital technology and those who do not. This division often reinforces existing inequalities based on social class, age, disability, and geographical location.
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Cultural Homogenisation
The process whereby the new media, dominated by Western (particularly American) companies like Netflix and Disney, spreads a uniform global culture that threatens to erode the diversity of local cultures and traditions.
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Citizen Journalism
When members of the public, rather than professional journalists, collect, report, and disseminate news and information, often using smartphones and social media. It is seen by neophiliacs as a democratising force.
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Digital Panopticon
An application of Foucault's theory to the new media. It describes a state of surveillance where individuals, aware they might be monitored by states or corporations online, self-censor and regulate their behaviour, thus becoming agents of their own social control.
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Echo Chamber
An environment, especially on social media, where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own. This is often caused by algorithmic filtering and can limit exposure to diverse perspectives and fuel social polarisation.