Use of technology in social movements

Points to speak:

• Social media is helping in gathering the support of a large number of people for many social movements. For example, in the early 2010s, many activists in the middle east used Twitter and Facebook to organise protests with the aim to bring political change. It resulted in Arab spring.
• Earlier, people used to distribute pamphlets over a span of a few days or months to gather people at a particular place to protest. Now, with the tools of technology, the process is a lot quicker. We can inform people and organise a protest within a day.
• Now, it is very easy to launch a campaign. Anyone can launch the campaign online and can gather support in much less time. With time, society throws us new challenges and that results in the need for new social movements. For example, the social movement against plastic pollution is relatively new and it is a global movement. These movements need support and genuine discussions worldwide. That is now possible due to the tools of technology.
• Earlier, only a few people used to lead the movements and also used to express their opinions. Now, we are hearing many voices and varied points of view.
• Technology gave the power to people to take part in bringing political change. Even if it is a local movement, through technology other people who do not belong to the region are also taking part in the movement and pressuring the governments to bring positive change.
• Not everyone can go to the place where people are protesting. Technology has enabled everyone to take part in social movements even from home. It is very beneficial to differently-abled people and senior citizens. So, technology made social movements inclusive.

Conclusion:

Technology tools are helping in strengthening social movements. In the modern world, it is easy to launch a campaign and gather the support of many people due to technology proliferation.

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Photo by Ariel Knox from Pexels

References:

• How Can New Technologies Strengthen Social Movements?

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