Skip to main content

Reclaiming the narrative one post at a time

While doing my weekly school reading, I came across the idea that digital platforms can empower grassroots activists by giving them space to challenge the top-down narratives often pushed by mainstream media. We see this play out on TikTok, where creators like Under the Desk News use short-form video to offer alternative perspectives, spotlight underreported stories, and provide context with clarity and compassion. It reinforces the notion that platforms like TikTok are more than just entertainment. When properly leveraged, TikTok can be a tool for amplifying marginalized voices in a media landscape often dominated by polarized and corporate-driven coverage. These creators are reframing current events in real time, bypassing traditional gatekeepers and empowering audiences to question, learn, and act. It’s grassroots journalism for the Web 2.0 generation, and I’m here for it.

This kind of digital activism reflects a broader shift in how people consume and trust information. More and more, audiences are turning to creators who speak directly and authentically about complex issues, offering not just facts, but perspective and empathy. In doing so, platforms like TikTok are democratizing storytelling, putting narrative power back into the hands of everyday people. And that shift is changing the way we understand and engage with the world around us.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The (digital native) struggle is real

Digital Natives, a term to describe those of us who grew up with technology, are no strangers to change. We’ve seen enough major tech shifts that nothing really surprises us anymore. We went from flip phones to smartphones, ran tech support for our parents, built lives on social media, use AI to plan our finances, and swipe in cardinal directions just to find a date. Another day, another breakthrough. Because of this constant exposure to change, we’ve become wired for dynamic environments. And that’s why conventional education, with its static delivery and rigid structure, isn't going to cut it anymore. The world has moved on from static delivery and rigid learning environments. Lectures and textbooks feel outdated to a generation that just learned how to poach an egg from a 30-second TikTok. This shift creates both challenges and opportunities for instructional designers. Traditional models that rely on passive learning are a thing of the past. To stay relevant and effective, ins...
2 comments
Read more

1st post + a reflection on social media

This is my final term in the ISLT program, which is why I’ve named this blog Adam’s Home Stretch . That said, the name might be a little misleading—this blog isn’t so much about wrapping up grad school as it is about reflecting on my relationship with social media, which, at this point in time, feels... complicated. There was a time when I was much more active online. My last blog documented my years teaching ESL in South Korea, from 2011 to 2014. Before that, I was a college student with a Facebook account—back when Facebook was still exclusive to college students. I loved posting, sharing photos, commenting, and connecting. It felt fun, fresh, and meaningful. Social media helped me stay in touch with friends and discover new communities. Looking back, those posts now serve as a time capsule of some of the most formative years of my life. These days, though, I rarely create anything on social media, which is ironic, considering I now work for a major social media company. Part of it...
2 comments
Read more

PLEs and Me

Reading about Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) made me realize I’d unknowingly built one while prepping to build my new gaming PC. I’m not a hardware expert by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, I'm just a long-time gaming nerd who owned a seven-year-old rig that was starting to show its age. What began with watching YouTube videos and browsing Reddit posts turned into a full-on learning process that mirrored the three-tier PLE framework described by Dabbagh and Kitsantas (2012). I unknowingly started at Tier 1: personal information management . I saved building guides and Reddit posts, and built a YouTube playlist filled with how-to videos about fan optimization, cable management, and motherboard features. All of my learning was unstructured and self-directed, with a focus on gathering anything and everything that I felt would be useful. Next was the second tier: social interaction and collaboration . I started engaging with Reddit communities, asking for feedback on my ...
2 comments
Read more