Critical theory is the school of thought that stresses the reflective assessments and critiques of society and culture by applying knowledge from the social sciences and the humanities. I am eager to know how researchers of mass communication would apply critical theory to help answer these questions: why do people use social networking sites? And what happens when people misuse those sites?
I have chosen the above questions because I need answers that are based on this particular theory and that shed light on the complexity of human behavior and fast-evolving social networking. The good thing about critical theory is its insistence that society renounces the status quo and embraces social sciences.
People use social networks mostly to get in touch with friends, to keep up with the technology, for business purposes and so forth. But networkers also use social media for a larger purpose, which is to improve the understanding of society by including other major social sciences: economics, sociology and politics. The use of mass communication for a purpose greater than satisfying oneself, as it is stated above, would henceforth fulfill its critical goal.
On the other hand, it is a catastrophe when mass media are used as a weapon to hurt people, organizations or financial institutions. Let's remember the hacking of Sony Studio, the disruption of major U.S. newspapers and banks, etc. In addition, what's worse is when some people are addicted to the mass media to the point of becoming a threat, a danger or more specifically, a hacker. In this case, such destructive behavior is against the philosophy of understanding and changing the mass media that critical theory is upholding.
With the emergence of mass communication, society has evolved. We broke away from the status quo and from the traditional way of doing things. Now we use texting, iPods, iPhones, big shopping malls and computer systems for almost everything. Yes, the elite power is obvious, but challenging it would not be fair because the digital divide is due to a lack of interest and awareness or an act of unwillingness to learn the computer system. Of course, this theory opposes the elite definition of the social world because critical theory aims to understand and transform society as a whole.
Critical theory has arguments that answer both questions by focusing on understanding, evolution and the critical tendency of the use and misuse of the network system. What this theory left out is how people can escape the realm of the status quo and break the barriers of the digital divide to fully empower society.
According to Guy Debord, “In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation."
