In Danah Boyd's article entitled "Can Social Network Sites Enable Political Action?", Boyd describes the reasons behind why young people don't seem to participate in "civic engagement" in an online setting. During reading, I noticed that her stance seemed to counter Bennett's, and I sort of thought of it lightly as a pessimist/optimist type of deal, with some exceptions. It's not that Boyd is a pessimist, she just sees the reality of the situation.
She explains that there is a lack of motivation that we need to understand is happening, and address it to improve our democracy and government. She says that young people participate in social network sites (SNS's) and online communities to gain identity development, status negotiation, community maintenance, and civic engagement- that people are more interested in "looking good" and getting themselves known rather than using it for "civic-minded collective action". I agree with this thought... Like I said in my previous post, lately I've been seeing the truths behind Facebook and how people seem to utilize it. I feel that a lot of people use SNS's to convey who they want to be as a person, and also how/who they want to come off to others.
Boyd also believes that our society has turned completely narcissistic and status-obsessed as a society. I hate to say it, because I do see so much potential in our society, but let's be real here... we love ourselves. Maybe a little too much. Says Boyd, "egoists love social networking sites because of their desire to inhibit themselves for the purposes of mass validation". To me, it is especially prevalent in those of a younger age group (15-21) that beneath all of their status updates and photos, they just want validity in their actions. They want reassurance with how they are living their life. Not necessarily if they're "cool" enough, but that they have a so-called "good" life going for themselves.
On the other hand, there was one point that Boyd touched upon that I disagreed on. She basically explained that this wasn't just a finger pointed turned teenagers on the internet, but it also goes for musicians, politicians, marketers, and other populations that want attention. She says they use networking sites as a spamming device.
I mean, yes, that is true, because that's exactly what musicians and artists want to do! They want to get their name heard, and network as much as possible to gain success. I suppose in the long run it is a form of narcissism, but not to a huge extent as Boyd claims. There's a difference between spamming yourself at people to boost your ego and advertising your talents or company.
All of these points tie in with what Bennett is referring to when he explains Dutiful Citizens and Self-Actualizing Citizens. Bennett believes that every person has that "leader" in them... young people aren't interested in politics, wanting their voice heard, etc. simply because we haven't given them the proper chance to practice that at a young age; while Boyd believes that kids are just doomed from the start and too caught up in their own lives to even have a voice on a subject.
As the last word on this article, I do agree with Boyd's explanation of the internet itself, and the reality of how information really travels. Because the internet is so easily ready, at one's fingertips, is accessible, and, most importantly, free, it's used as a first source. The internet is seemingly infinite, yet at the same time you have little control over whether something to posts goes "viral" or not. "Content may be public, but the public may not be interested in your content"- I thought this was extremely true. The audience is easy to please, yet at the same time pretty hard to keep their attention. People want funny, happy, alluring things on the internet... not footage of the war. That's too depressing for the average internet-goer who just wants their daily dose of pleasure in the worldwide web.
Overall, Boyd wants to get these groups active- the people who aren't interested in participating in "civic life", she wants to convince them to leverage their own networks and get others to participate, whereas Lance Bennett believes that those people are already one step ahead of the game, and simply just need a little push.
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