I asked the following 5 questions to 3 people who all differed in background in order to try to get a variety of answers, and possibly be able to connect their answers to why they believe them to be true. I will not reveal the names of the people I interviewed, however I will give a brief description of each person to give background. I interviewed a different friend’s mom who has conservative political beliefs (I do not know much about her background other than this). I then interviewed my best friend; a 18 year old female who grew up in Fairbanks and has separated parents. Finally my grandmother; a woman who was raised in near poverty, fought for women’s rights in the 70s (and again now), and raised two kids alone while working full time before getting married to my grandpa. The breakdown and connections made about each person’s answers is at the end of their interview responses, one for each person.
- Do you currently have any forms of social media? If so, why do you have them/what do you use them for (to receive news, keep in touch with friends or family, learn about the world, etc)?
- What platforms/types of media do you typically use when receiving the news (the paper, news channels on TV, the radio, social media, etc)?
- Do you think the way you receive news contributes to the bias you may have towards politics/political parties, ethics or other important matters? Do the news sources you follow have a bias that parallels or clashes with your opinion?
- Overall would you say the influence social media has on the public is positive or negative? Why?
- How do you think the people you interact with on a day to day basis have changed or reinforced your political beliefs? Do you think your beliefs were solidified from sharing ideals with others, or from disagreeing with those around you?
Friend’s Mom Answers:
1. Yes. Keep in touch with friends & family.
2. Social media, radio and sometimes TV
3. No. A lot of them clash with my opinion.
4. Negative mostly. I think social media has been detrimental to the younger generations. Everything they do is instantly uploaded. No privacy and once it’s on the internet, it will always be there. The media doesn’t fact check, flat out lies or only gives a partial truth. There should be consequences for the media.
5. I don’t discuss politics with my friends. My beliefs have been solidified by watching what is happening to our country.
Breakdown/Analysis: I do not know my friend’s mom, and have only interacted with her a handful of times. That being said I have heard about her political views and beliefs as my friend and I have had long talks about politics which have spanned onto her mothers beliefs. I was not surprised with her answers, however I also feel I do not know enough about her to be surprised or not. When interviewing her I was not able to be in person, so sent her a list of the questions and she emailed them back to me. Some of her questions were short and to the point so there is not much to discuss about them, however I wonder what news sources she uses on “social media…and sometimes TV” (answer to question 2) as often sources have bias. Watching news that has a biased opinion and reports as such can further sway a person one way or another so that would be interesting to determine.
My Grandma’s Answers:
1. Yes, basically I use 3 forms of social media – Facebook, Instagram & Twitter. The last 2 I rarely use and Facebook I use to keep in touch with family & friends and I belong to photography & nature groups.
2. I use digital subscriptions to NYTs, The Atlantic & the Washington Post. Occasionally I watch CNN & Fox News on TV.
3. For the most part news sources I follow parallels my opinions and I would agree that those sources may contribute to my biases. Fox News definitely clashes with my opinions.
4. Social media has a negative influence on the public. Opinions are so polarized today that civil discourse is, for the most part, impossible, especially on social media platforms.
5. Those I interact with on a day to day basis have not changed my political beliefs and perhaps solidified them. Sharing ideas with others has solidified my beliefs.
Breakdown/Analysis: My grandma and I are super close so when I first asked her if she would be interested in answering my questions I felt like I would generally know what she had to say. We have had many conversations (some of which include my mom as well) about politics, the effect social media has on the public, and religion (as well as many other topics that can be difficult to talk about with others). My grandma and grandpa have been married for over 40 years and have a rule that they do not talk politics with each other as their views clash so much. She always tells me that if this rule was to not be in place, they would have got divorced years ago. This is interesting to me as my grandma is a very strong, takes no shit woman, who I would not originally assume would be ok with that (I know I would not be able to). That being said she is also a very caring woman, who while she may disagree with you will not hate you for it. She always does her own research on topics (especially about politics) and sometimes finds that she does not completely agree with the policies/procedures of her political party. When this is the case she will act accordingly, and not always vote with her party if the candidates do not represent her ideals. She is someone who I look up to and hope to be like when I am older.
My best friend’s Answers:
1. Insta, snapchat and tiktok are the main forms of social media I use. I like to use these apps to stay in touch with friends and for entertainment.
2. I generally listen to the radio to stay updated on the news. Podcasts are my favorite way to hear about current events around the world. Occasionally, I will use social media to stay in touch with celebrity drama.
3. The platforms I use to receive news typically correlate with my political beliefs. Although none of my pre-existing opinions have changed based on the form in which I receive news on, it’s helped provide various perspectives on events around the world. This contributes to how I view certain issues and how I construct new opinions. So, yes, I do believe this slightly influences the bias I have on matters.
4. Overall, I think social media has a very negative impact on society. I absolutely agree that there are some major benefits that come with it, but I think the drawbacks are extremely damaging. I believe that it is detrimental to our mental health for reasons I can’t even begin to explain.
5. Talking to those around you is a vital step to understanding politics. To really know what YOU believe in, I think you need to be open to learning about all aspects to an issue. Hearing different perspectives and reasoning for different outlooks on issues is, in my opinion, the best way to educate yourself. I have had many conversations that have changed my point of view entirely, as well as some that have made me feel very content with my opinions/beliefs.
Breakdown/Analysis: Like with my grandma, I have had many talks with my best friend about these topics. Both of us find politics interesting and important and although we were only 12 at the time of the 2016 election, we both decided to do our government and history final project together on the effects of said election in 2018. Our political views match up closely so I was not surprised at what she had to say. She is the only person I interviewed who is under the age of 40 so the social media aspect of my questions fit her knowledge more than my other interviewees. She has deleted social media to give herself a break from its pressures many times (something I also feel is important to do every once in a while to get a break) and gave a great idea of what it is like to be a teen when understanding politics and social media.
I enjoyed this assignment as I enjoy talking about politics with people (even if we don’t share the same opinion) as I feel like it is a good way to learn about other people’s perspectives and further educate yourself. I found that this assignment was easier and more fun for me to do than the last one, and really contributed to my knowledge on this week’s topics, as well as how social media and news bias can either sway people’s beliefs, or further enforce them.