The Idea Of Progress

The idea of progress

The idea of progress can be defined as a technical, scientific or social improvement, development, change or advance that contributes to making the world a better place. In today’s society, social medias are a big part of our life; we are constantly surrounded by televisions, radio, computer. That’s why we can ask ourselves what the difference is between yesterday and today’s medias and what are the impacts of these medias in today’s society?

First I will talk about the positive and negative effects that social medias have had and have on society and second I will discuss whether or not medias are too dangerous for people to handle.

In the past, social medias have been used for negative purposes. For instance, they were used to rally people from different backgrounds around a common cause. Hitler used the radio to spread his anti-Semitic propaganda. Gangs in Rwanda also used the radio to perpetrate mass murders. However, the radio was also used in the Resistance during the Second World War. Today, people use the Internet and cell phones to communicate, to gather and to spread messages to millions of people around the world. It’s a very good way to contact and meet people that live in different countries, discover new culture and languages in just a click. We can be informed more quickly of what happens around the world. For instance, protestors in some part of the Arab world used social medias to fight oppressive regimes. But today’s media can also be used for illegal activities such as the looting of stores and the London riots.

We can wonder whether modern technologies like social medias could be dangerous because people who use social medias can easily participate in unauthorized activities that can have dramatic outcomes. In fact, social medias are not always dangerous but they can easily get out of control, especially if they fall in the wrong hands.

We can conclude that the use of new technologies is paradoxical because they can serve the cause of democracy and empower citizens but they can also enable totally undemocratic behaviors. In other words, they are like double-edged swords that can be used for better and for worse.

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