Social Media and Human Rights

Justin Brady

Social media is a product that brings millions of people together in a blink of an eye,
whether it is from photos to posting how your day was. Starting out the capabilities of social
media began with just being able to send and produce code as well as posting messages, which
was way ahead of it times. Now jump ahead ten or so years and you see that from BBS and AOL,
sites start to blossom out of everywhere, such as Myspace, Twitter, Instagram, and Skype just to
name of few different variations of social media.
Though to many people that social media began with Facebook or even Myspace. Yet
social media actually has been around since computers were first available and the internet
became real. It started with the BBS. Short for Bulletin Board System, these online meeting
places were effectively independently-produced hunks of code that allowed users to
communicate post messages to other users.(Liu). BBS is the cornerstone of what is now
social media. Although at the time is was only capable of only a fraction of what now can be
done. With this in mind we see that these are the infant years of social media of which will be the
start of what will create a new social structure in society.
With the introduction of modern social media sites such as Facebook, Google we see that
social media can be used as a promotional tool by companies to get people to buy their products.
According to Mangold, he states that this form of promotional tactics is called consumer
generated media because it relies on the consumer to spread the product. The introduction of this
allows for the producer to be able to tell if their product is going to be successful or a bust. Then
instead of them now having to spend a bunch of money on commercials, now the consumers
begins to tell their friends and family on a social network or word of mouth how great or bad the
product is. Though this is just one of many ways social media is used.

Another way that social media is used now a days is to share everything that is going in
their lives, one way people do this is by posting pictures. The biggest social media site that does
this is Instagram. Instagram allows people to post an infinite amount of pictures of themselves,
food or just about anything else they happen to take a picture of. After that they tend to either
share them friends and family or allow the public to view them. This allows the original poster to
selectively show people what may happen through ones day, an example of this would be a
group of friends going out for the night might take a photo and post it on Instagram to show how
they are having a good time. Or another example of how people use Instagram is they would
show what they are about to eat. By doing taking pictures it creates a visual timeline of what one
does and instantly creates snapshot of a memory.
By taking that snapshot in that moment of time that person can upload it to a blog or
Facebook and talk about by given a caption of what the photo is. Or when it is in the blog one
can blog about what happened in that picture, also they can tell the reader what was going in
their head at the time it was taken. Which allows the readers to be updated into on what is going
on in life during that moment in time. Blogging can be beneficial for some people because it
allows them to be able to put their thoughts and words out there anonymously or not, depending
on what the blogger decides to do. This is a way people share what is bothering, worrying, and
exciting them without fully being judged by those around them. It allows those who are
potentially without a voice, to have or create a voice for themselves in a way they might not
physically be able to express at that moment of time.
Though sometimes people feel as though blogging doesnt allow them to get their
message across, so what some people do with social media is theyve turned into a video, by
turning it into a video they can give off the emotional response they were trying to convey.

Thanks to social networks like Youtube and Vine, many people have gotten into this kind of
social networking. Though this kind of social media can have a dark undertone, within these sites
there are videos that happen to convey a message that can disturb or change the thinking of
people. From personal experience, some videos on Youtube should not be on their because they
take something like killing and blow it up to an extreme and you sit there and wonder how many
children have seen this. The capabilities of videos on social networks can be a very scary thing.
Now these are just some of the capabilities and different sites people have access to now,
though in the future I have no what sites will be here but I bet they will be along the lines of
those that already exist. As to what the future capabilities that the future social media will have is
more on the point of speculation from seeing where it is in its current state.
At first the future capabilities of social media might actually begin with 3-D or remote
view of an area, such as they have with Google Maps, but now being brought to the likes of
Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. With this abilities people would be able to somewhat experience
the moment a little bit more and have a clearer picture of what the atmosphere or vibe of an area
was. This could also be used to help police, because if someone does this a club or party they
could catch someone slipping a drug in someones drink or even worse. So it adds a more
sociable vibe and a chance to catch actions that might be missed during the moment or even
where the person was.
Or even later down the road, potentially in the next decade or two, we could see social
media being used on the virtual reality level. This is possible due to inventions such as the
Oculus Rift.

The Oculus Rift creates a stereoscopic 3D view with excellent depth, scale, and parallax.
Unlike 3D on a television or in a movie, this is achieved by presenting unique and parallel
images for each eye. This is the same way your eyes perceive images in the real world, creating a
much more natural and comfortable experience. (Steroscopic).

As you can see what potential the Oculus rift has. Though in its current state it only works well
with videos and video games, yet it potential is pretty much limitless. If it gets to its full potential
one could visit the Hawaii in a fraction of the time they could now and then in the next second go
to Rome, or even the Moon if they so choose. Although they wont be able to feel the heat or the
rush of the ocean as it hits their feet.
Also with the addition of virtual reality we could see things like the movie Gamer,
become more of a reality in which basically augmented or virtual reality could be used to
connect people on a deeper level. In a sense it would be like Sims which is a game where one
takes control of one or a lot of fictional characters. But instead of seeing things birds eye, they
would be able to see and control them from first person, literally looking through the eyes and
talking to other people in the body of a game character. Where if you dont like your physical
self, you could plug in and change who and what you are and become a different person. Yet with
virtual reality it can lead to problems, where people are no longer able to distinguish reality from
the game.
With the introduction of social media, the social structure of life itself has changed. The
Antisocial have become social, the social have become even more social. As it grow the closer
everyone becomes, the potentially of social media almost becomes limitless, where the only
boundaries are those we call the human limits.

Although the United Nations (UN) created The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
in 1948, Australia formed their own commission for Human Rights in 1986. Before this time the
Human Rights for the Aboriginals and also the women population did not really any human
rights that were enforced.
Though around the 1986 there were some issues with human rights violations in a region
of New South Wales, which in Ellers report called Human Rights Legislation and the
Educational Administrator: An Australian Case Study stated how there was racial and
educational discrimination against those who were aboriginals and that something needed to be
done, how the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act (further known as the
HREOC) has helped curve the racial discrimination (Eller).
Following the HREC the Australian Human Rights Commission has created (hence forth
known as AHRC)and founded several cause they believe should be helped and changed in
Australia, which a few of them are, Rights and Freedom, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Social Justice (hence forth known as ATSI Social Justice, and Race discrimination. These are just
a few of the Human Rights area that the AHRC see as important topics that should be either
protected as in the case of Rights and Freedom and ATSI Social Justice, or stopped as in the case
of Race Discrimination.
When it comes to the Rights and Freedom part of the AHRC outlook on the Human
Rights area of Australia, its overall concern is that everyone is entitled to equal enjoyments of
human rights without any form of distinction(Australian A.G). Which in short means that no
matter what races, sex, gender or age you are, you are allowed this these things because it is your
right to do so and that nobody can do anything that prevents you from doing them. This is an
important thing to protect because without it people tend to be separated into different classes or

groups all depending on different attributes that a person has. But with these in place that kind of
thinking happens to not be much of a problem or issue. The division that the Rights and Freedom
has stopped or halted slightly is the diversion between aboriginals and those people who showed
up as British colonists.
ATS Social Justice, which serves to protect the human rights of the aboriginal people in
Australia, in short this regulation helps to give the aboriginal people and Torres Strait islanders
equal opportunity to a proper education and housing. (Human Rights). This also protects the
culture of both groups as so that their culture does not disappear into the history books. The
importance of this is that it gives those who lived on the land before it was settled by the British
colonist, the rights that the deserve to preserve their culture and traditions while also giving them
a chance at an equal opportunity to get an education to better their lifestyles. Also this improves
the relation between these two cultures and doesnt allow one to dominate the other.
Now on the other hand since their happens to be a group of people that have lived on that
land long before it was colonized by the British Empire, those who came over from British lands
tended to racial discriminate against the aboriginals. Since this has become an issue the AHRC
set out rules and guideline to prevent this from becoming a bigger issue than it could have been,
at the time the colonist did not really see them as a group of people and considered the
aboriginals less than them, due to cultural differences and differences in educational levels. The
role of getting rid of racial discrimination is to get rid of the division and try to set everyone as
equal, by giving them an equal opportunity instead of simply judging and potentially excluding
them due to being a different race.
Though there is a dark side to the AHRC, according to the Human Rights Watch, many of
migrant kids are being detained by the police and sent to this detention centers in which they

tend to be locked away in places with less than adequate medical care, schooling and mental care
(Bochenek). Which when you look at other countries they not allowed to detain unaccompanied
migrant children, and if they do they have to care for them the way they would a local child. This
is according to the UNs committee of Childrens Rights, so by detain and treating these kids
poorly and inadequately is denying them their basic human rights. Which goes against UNs
Declaration of Human Rights. Though there is a potential way this can be impacted by social
media.
The way that this can be affected by social media is that if someone who captures an
event where someones rights have been potentially violated, they tend to post it and it gets
spread. An example of this would be the event in Ferguson, in which someone had recorded a
part of the event and suddenly it went viral. When it went viral it caused an out roar that went out
across the nation and people stood up, asking for retribution for the loss of life. Although this is
not an example of human rights violation it is a prime showing how social media can cause an
impact and ask for a change of laws. When social media get involved it basically becomes a
rumor and spreads out across the world as a wildfire.
If a child who is a migrant gets separated from parents and happens to get released
eventually they could write a blog, telling about their experience. Now someone who happens to
stumble upon it might share it with a neighbor or friend, and then that friend or neighbor post the
link to Facebook or Twitter, people who start noticing it and eventually it would get spread.
When enough people see it and start to get out raged by the events that were taking place, it can
cause a reform either internally within Australia or externally and the UN gets involved and
enforces sanctions that causes them to make the reform or deal with the consequences.

The impact that comes from social media usually happens to lead to a mini revolution
that forces the leaders to change their actions. Or even get involved. Overall the fundamental
function that social media plays in human rights is that it acts as a messenger spreading either the
good or the bad of what has happened in an area.
Human rights are what gives us a guideline about how humans should behave and act
towards one another. Stating how as human beings we have certain rights. Although its a fairly
new concept and even newer in some countries like Australia, they have all been put into place to
help dictate and guide us down a path of better living.

Works Cited
"About Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice." Australian Human Rights
Commission. Australian Human Rights Commission, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.
"About Rights and Freedom." Australian Human Rights Commission. Australian Human Rights
Commission, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.
Bochenek, Michael. "Australia's Cruel Detention of Migrant Children Must Stop." Human
Rights Watch. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.
Eller, Michael. Human Rights Legislation and the Educational Administrator: An Australian
Case Study. Darwin: n.p., July 1992. PDF.
Liu, Aaron. "The History of Social Networking." Digital Trends. N.p., 04 Aug. 2014. Web. 12
Feb. 2015.
"Public Sector Guidance Sheets." Public Sector Guidance Sheets. Australian Attonery General,
n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.
"Stereoscopic 3D View." Oculus VR Rift Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, Declaration of Human Rights, Human
Rights Declaration, Human Rights Charter, The Un and Human Rights." UN News
Center. UN, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015