The Parkland shooting seems to have struck a nerve amongst the majority of the population. In other shootings, typically people cared only for a couple weeks until that shooting was all but forgotten. But for some reason, this shooting has stuck in the minds of adults, and that is what is causing so much energy to take place in marches and protests. Part of this is due to the fact that we are living in the 21st Century where news is now digitized. In fact, the shooting was caught on tape and you could see and hear the students. This is one of the reasons why the protests have been so effective in persuading adults to support tighter gun restrictions. Still, many of the images have been put on the screen in order to serve as entertainment and something that will be able to get people’s attention.

This has absolutely worked as we have seen with the students. Recently, CNN held a townhall with the students, and you could tell just by watching that the goal of the townhall was to provoke and entertain the audience. This may not be healthy for the population, as treating something so important like this as entertainment kind of desensitizes us over the real issues. Still, the townhall was a major success, as more people tuned in. Perhaps you need to instill some entertainment into your product, as it will allow more people to watch and get interested, thus becoming more informed of what is happening in the world today. I thought that the optics were quite interesting as well, as CNN made sure to allow the kids to confront the adults. This, as many people took it, was comical, as children lecturing adults on public policy is something you’d see in a comic strip. Still, this reached the goal of entertaining the public, and it definitely plays into the role of digital media in the 21st Century.

Not many people watch cable though; it is timely and costly, and many people do not have the money to pay for these resources because they need to pay for necessities. Even then, why would one pay for TV news if he or she can just get it off the internet? Most people nowadays get their information off the internet and social media. They engage in their circle and learn more due to this. Social media is the easiest news source to access, as it is right in front of you and you know exactly what is happening. It’s also entertaining, as you get to read through several conversations that may turn vile once in a while. If you’re lucky, you also get to engage in these conversations and debate people in a positive form of public discourse.

From all the articles, I thought that the one that was the most effective was the CNN one, as it included a video and many visuals in order to attract the eyes and draw the reader in. The social media post also did a good job, as she was able to take a picture of what was happening in real time, something you do not see on the news or in news articles. All in all, the Parkland shooting was devastating, and through the power of social media and technology, people are beginning to understand that maybe we aren’t so safe. The students haven’t gone off into the sunset, they are here to stay. Like them or not, they will use social media in order to further their message and push for gun control and a ban on assault weapons.