Corporate DispatchPro Laura Emma Grima
The impact of digitalisation on activism Digitalisation has altered our world in a multitude of ways, impacting various issues such as employment, communication, health, resources, and security. It is continuously changing the way we go about our day to day lives, which results in us gradually losing touch with our physical world.
The Internet has become a primary organising and mobilising tool for environmentalists all around the world, raising people’s consciousness about alternative ways of living, as well as building the political force to make it happen (Castells, 2001, p.280). It is providing a wide variety of tools and new opportunities for different movements and campaigns, which were not previously available. The digital world has become a platform where activists are able to forward their message to the general public and also become a place where activists can communicate with each other in real time. According to Eurostat, Malta has the second highest use of social media in the European Union, where more than 80 percent of the population aged between 16 and 74 are active on social media. Activists have taken advantage of the power of social media to gain more reach, by attracting more members, in the hopes to make significant changes. Activists are also found to be using social media platforms as technological tools of liberation, by devising creative hacks, to connect with like-minded people, mobilise masses, influence public opinion, push for social change, and ignite revolutions (Manal al Sharif, 2018). Awareness for the environment is becoming more of a trending topic, raising more concerns within people. Digitalisation has 17
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