Make a meme out of it

 

Social media can lead to informal learning through basic social and cognitive constructivism. Because social media is used to reproduce language and images, the same social processes that lead to learning would apply there. No surprise there. Was nazism socially constructed? Was it based on aesthetics that was disseminated through the media of the time? How many angry Austrians would we have today if they could tweet their manifestos? 

The interesting article shows how social media is about spreading, not refining. We are still blind. Still, we are beasts that follow our emotions and irrational impulses. If something is to be popular, it is to connect with that side of human nature as this is the baseline human. After all the talk about fake news and misinformation, I think it is an absolute delusion that we discuss social media as a form of "learning" because a researcher and a half taught two students a simple math problem online. Substance matters. 

I learn from Matt Dilahaunty every day. He is a master of formal logic. I learn through social media. But I am not in need of enkratic tutalege. I am not in need of critical thinking development. The equivocation fallacy that spreading is the same as teaching [for meaning and growth] is insidious. 

Social media brings out the worst in us. It enthrones the vulgar and galvanizes the furor of the simple as we sacrifice truth for popularity. Even if we shoot this Frankenstein in the head, it will not go anywhere because it is inside of us. We created this. It is sad what we have become. Cope.