Self Fulfillment: A Speech Theory

     These days, it is not rare to hear shocking news almost everyday. One of the main topics in the world right now is the war between Russia and Ukraine. Of course, those of us in the United States should not be too bothered by this. You would be shocked to find out that we are. Like any war, this one has impacted us economically. One of the biggest impacts is the increase in gas prices. Americans are not too thrilled about this. Unfortunately, that is just one problem of the 7 billion other ones in the US.

    I think almost anyone under the age of 50 would tell you that they get their news from social media. Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Tiktok, we are often turning to these sites to learn about what is going on in the world. The problem with this is that social media is undoubtedly the most unreliable source to get real world news from. We often question why anyone would lie on these sites, but at the same time, why wouldn’t they? It is so easy to fool hundreds of people by making a simple post. Social media is the quickest way to obtain news, but the news is often never fact checked and mostly an assumption. We are relying on unreliable sources.

    This concept ties in with the Individual Self-Fulfillment speech theory. This theory states that free speech allows us to create an identity and find people who may relate to us or enjoy the same topics as us. One of the best places to do this is social media. Social media gives us a platform to post almost whatever we want and create a page dedicated to ourselves or whatever random hobby you may be into. Through this, it is likely we will find people with common interests and hobbies. This is how we gain followers. People will often follow you if your page is pleasing to them or they recognize that you both have similar interests. Of course, friends and people you already know following you is a separate reasoning. Nonetheless, you have something in common with probably every follower. If not that, they must admire something about you if they are wanting to keep up with your life. 

    Once someone has followed you for a while, it almost feels like they are starting to get to know you. Even if they have never spoken to you a day in their life. To them, you are a trustworthy person, mostly because over social media, you have shown no signs of being untruthful. Social media can become a vulnerable thing. A feature that most social media platforms utilize is the story feature. Most of the time, stories can be posted but only remain for 24 hours. After those 24 hours are up, the story no longer exists. One of the amazing features about Instagram stories is that they allow you to repost Instagram photos from any public account. 

    This feature gives users free rein to repost whatever they want from other accounts. This includes news accounts. The problem with this is the news that is being distributed. Let's say you come across a news post on instagram and the headline is shocking. Perhaps, you repost this on your story. Now, that post is out there for all of your followers to see. How are we sure that this source of news is reliable? Unless research has been done prior, you can never be truly sure when you originally come into contact with these types of posts. You have reposted this to your story for thousands of followers to see. There is a great chance that this news may be fake. This common mistake fools so many people into believing things because the girl they followed on instagram posted some "breaking news". 

    Of course, the right to free speech and engagement will always be present. Sometimes though, this free speech can become misleading. The individual self-fulfillment theory supports creating a platform of your own and sharing your thoughts on it. This theory, however, is not meant to promote the release of false news. In a world like ours, although we have the right to write and post whatever we please, I believe that we should try to monitor the "news" we are posting in order to avoid misconceptions. The article i have linked HERE explains how false news can spread around social media like a wildfire. Taking this into account could help several of us avoid the mistake of posting false statements.