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CHAPTER 7

Chapter 7 discusses the impact of pop culture in the Digital Age, focusing on the concept of the 'netizen' and the democratization of media as theorized by Michael Hauben. It highlights the rise of social media platforms in the Philippines and their role in shaping public opinion and facilitating political movements. The chapter emphasizes the importance of allowing marginalized voices to be heard in the digital landscape.

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CHAPTER 7

Chapter 7 discusses the impact of pop culture in the Digital Age, focusing on the concept of the 'netizen' and the democratization of media as theorized by Michael Hauben. It highlights the rise of social media platforms in the Philippines and their role in shaping public opinion and facilitating political movements. The chapter emphasizes the importance of allowing marginalized voices to be heard in the digital landscape.

Uploaded by

Diona Macasaquit
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CHAPTER 7

Pop Culture in the Digital Age

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

The student must be able to:

• Understand the effects of various changes in pop culture in the

Digital Age.

• Assess and evaluate the pros and cons.

• Identify and explain the essential roles of the youth in the

development and future society.

"Popular culture is power, and whoever wields it to manipulate

minds is likely to find its literary and technological machinery turned

against him when the minds it has manipulated discover its potency as a

political weapon." (Lumbera, 1984)

7.1 THE THEORY OF THE NETIZEN AND DEMOCRATIZATION OF MEDIA

The word netizen, though it has been used popularly in current times, is a

word from the theory of Michael Hauben (1996) is a corrupted term from the phrase

"Net Citizen". According to Hauben, as netizens, geographical separation in the

actual reality is replaced by existence in the same virtual space called the internet.

More so, along with the power of using the internet is the power of the reporter

given to the netizen for a netizen could be a source of primary information

regarding certain topics or issues. Hauben profoundly cautions that the internet

can, nevertheless, be a "source of opinion" though he said that a netizen can train

him/herself to discern real from fabricated information.

This prophecy will soon be reflected in Graeme Turner's book called the

Demotic Turn (2010) but in a certain extreme way for even news reports are often

bent to suit the "infotainment" genre favored by the general audience. According

to Turner, there is a rise of opinionated news as reporters tend to bend the news

to the stories, they often favor. A concrete example of this is tabloidization or

sensationalizing small news items and making a big deal out of such.
Michael Hauben's theory of the Netizen, when he coined the term in the

late 1990's imagined the world's physical limits collapsed via the faster streaming

of information and communication via the internet, and true enough, the effect is

limitless and transcendental -- quite a benchmark of a 21st century high

technology. Hauben also imagined the democratizing power of media, for

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everyone can voice out their ideas via the internet, but this can only be achieved if

everyone in the society, even those in the margins, can be given the chance to

voice out their ideas.

In the Philippines, the internet usage penetration is more than 30% as of

2012, and is continuously rising (Yahoo-Nielsen, 2013). According to the same

survey, more Filipinos use tablets and mobile phones to access the internet, and

with the rise of smart phones in the country, we can assume that the projected

number can be rising exponentially. However, the democratization of media, even

if away from Hauben's ideal 100% penetration in the society, is still evident in the

society, and this is via social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram, and the like. Among the three, Facebook, is the widely used platform

(Yahoo-Nielsen, 2013).

Public opinion rises from these sites, proliferation of liberal ideas happen

especially in the Philippines for the government never censors the content though

there was attempt in the Cyber-crime law. The agenda and capability seemed to

prove its political worth in the Philippines last September 2013 when, as though an

Arab or Persian Spring that were so-called Twitter or Facebook Revolution,

through the facilitation of social media, many Filipinos all around the Philippines

and the world joined a simultaneous protest they called the "Million People March"

(Garchitorena, 2013).

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