EOTO #2 Reaction: The Spiral of Silence, Gatekeeping, and Cord-cutting

The second round of EOTO presentations was on terms and concepts surrounding society and technology. Here is everything I learned about the Spiral of Silence theory, gatekeeping, and cord-cutting. 

The Spiral of Silence theory is about an individual having an opinion on something controversial and choosing to keep their opinion hidden, for fear that whatever they are thinking may be an unpopular or unacceptable opinion by the majority of people who flocked to a more popular opinion.

Brittanica defines it more specifically as, "the theory that people’s willingness to express their opinions on controversial public issues is affected by their largely unconscious perception of those opinions as being either popular or unpopular." 

Someone may not go against popular opinions or trends because they do not want to look like they are "wrong" or saying or believing the "wrong thing". 

The Spiral of Silence theory really seems to revolve around a fear of judgment by others. 

The truth is, just because something gains popularity, does not make it morally "right". However, in the case of this theory, the individual who has a differing opinion from their peers wants to remain agreeable and not isolate themselves by expressing a different set of thoughts. I found this theory interesting because it is visible in society; particularly in those who may have social anxiety or aim to blend in with a crowd. 

Gatekeeping, as defined by dictionary.com, has two meanings, one pertaining to physically keeping watch of a gate, and the other being the definition I was looking for. The more relevant definition states that gatekeeping is, "a person or thing that controls access, as to information, often acting as an arbiter of quality or legitimacy." 

An example of gatekeeping in our generation currently is when a person refuses to share what products they use or purchase regularly to prevent the products from selling out and becoming hard to find. This is usually seen on social media. Business Insider defines this modern version of gatekeeping as, "having access, opportunity, or knowledge — and then keeping it all to yourself." 

Gatekeeping has become a more serious term regarding internet safety. Google, Facebook, and Amazon, just to name a few, have been saving our information and for a while, it was not widely known that our information was being saved. These companies gatekept our own data from us. I'm curious as to what information about me is being saved. 

Cord-cutting is the idea of canceling satellite or cable television to prioritize streaming services or other internet media. Cord-cutting has started to become more frequent year by year, as more television companies have noticed people flocking to streaming services instead. In the past year, roughly one million users have canceled their cable or satellite television subscriptions. 

With younger generations going straight to using streaming services and skipping out on cable and satellite, their parents are following suit and switching to only using streaming services as well. 

Cord-cutting may be financially beneficial, as the costs of streaming service subscriptions are less expensive than paying for cable and satellite television. Also, streaming services offer a wide range of television and movies readily available to its users, that may not be playing on cable or satellite. 

One negative connotation with cord-cutting is that streaming services are not live, and do not contain a live news source. To be able to watch live news broadcasts, updates, and breaking news, people would still have to have access to cable or satellite. As a future journalist, I do not support cord-cutting for this reason only. I think that it is important for everyone to have access to news at all times in case of an emergency and just to stay updated in general.