AOC Declares Orange Sus: America’s Shift to Digital Communities
Digital Shifts are Among Us
According to SimilarWeb and Apptopia, while sports have been on pause (ESPN’s daily traffic dropped -40.2%), the video gaming site, Twitch.tv, has seen a 19.7% increase in daily traffic (Koeze & Popper, April 7, 2020).
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Democratic U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district since 2019, is the youngest women to be elected into congress and has been able to connect with younger voters through the video game, Among Us. Political commentary Twitch streamer, Hasan Piker, invited AOC and other popular streamers (such as Pokimane, a 24-year-old Moroccan-Canadian streamer with 6.3 million followers on Twitch) to play a game of Among Us and discuss reasons why they want Americans to vote. AOC tweeted to promote the live stream by making a pun about Donald Trump: “[we’ll] officially declare orange sus on Among Us”. The congresswomen’s stream was historic, earning her place in the top five most concurrent viewers on a stream with 435,000+ live viewers tuning in to her Twitch channel. All players had their own streams running as well, with tens of thousands of live viewers, and some creators posted the final stream on YouTube and gained millions of views on top of that.
Among Us memes were running rampant on TikTok, a social media app that has been used to help connect communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of George Floyd, and the current election. On February 2nd, the World Health Organization (WHO), labeled the coronavirus as “a massive infodemic,” or, “an overabundance of information — some accurate and some not — that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.” Because fake information has spread so quickly over social media, TikTok has made a decision to try and actively remove purposely misleading information.
But what do these sites do when the President is adding to the misleading information? How about on the second most used social media platform, Twitter, which has 330 million active users each month? Well, during the election Twitter began putting warnings on tweets about misinformation and one of those tweets was that from Donald Trump about “illegal votes” (Hao & Basu, 2020). The Trump administration has intentionally, and many times unintentionally, instilled a deep distrust of media and news in Americans. This, along with the coronavirus “infodemic” has created quite an uncertain environment on the internet.
How does all of this connect to me and you?
Well, Twitch wasn’t the only website to receive a boost of daily traffic. According to SimilarWeb and Apptopia, websites like Facebook (+27%), Netflix (+16%), and Youtube (+15.3%) have all seen increased daily traffic to their websites since the first COVID-19 death in the U.S. on February 29, 2020. Also, apps and websites involved in video connection have seen major increase in daily traffic: Google duo (+12%), Nextdoor.com (+73.3%), Houseparty (+79.4%), Zoom and Google Classroom (Koeze & Popper, April 7, 2020).
The graph to the left shows how 39% of individuals with a low level of internet skills have experienced a decrease in their digital communication during the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person communication has already been decreased significantly. Age, gender, living situation, concerns about the Internet and Internet skills all play a role in an individuals ability to connect during the pandemic. Because of these factors, social connections have become unequally distributed and this will likely influence inequalities after the pandemic as we continue to use the internet to communicate in more novel ways (Nguyen, Gruber, Fuchs, Marter, Hunsaker, & Hargittal, 2020).
Unlike the older generation, the younger Gen Z and Millennials have increased their digital communication use and have become even more dependent on the Internet (i.e. education, jobs, socializing, etc.). For younger people who have inconsistent or limited access to the Internet, this shift in digital dependency can create opportunity gaps and could negatively impact individuals social, cognitive and behavioral development.
The importance of self-care and mental health during these times
The collective trauma of COVID-19 with school closures, business closures, rising unemployment, health uncertainties, the “infodemic” and emotional distress impacts absolutely everyone. Increased media (indirect) exposure of collective trauma, “has been associated with heightened psychological distress and impaired functioning over time”. Online platforms are created and designed to be addictive. “Early research on COVID-19 media exposure documented this relationship: a study of 917 Chinese residents, assessed during the initial phase of the COVID‐19 outbreak, found that new media use (e.g., online news sites; pictures, videos, news or text updates on social media) was associated with negative psychological outcomes, while traditional media use (television, radio and newspapers) was not (Chao et al., 2020).” Now this correlation could be due to “emotional contagion”, lower quality of information or increased digital consumption but the answer is unclear (Garfin, 2020).
The article, You Have a Moral Responsibility to Post Your Boring Life on Instagram (Tiffany, 2020), shows how this increase in digital communication can actually bring comfort to some. The mundane glimpses into people’s lives through social media networks can create a sense of connection, comfort and company during these social-distancing times. I’ve personally seen quite a few posts sharing resources and tips about managing stress during COVID-19 and the election. When people are deprived from their normal social interactions, it can be comforting to share and relate with others about the unique situations we’re all experiencing. It can also serve to bring light to those who are frequently undermined in society (servers, nurses/healthcare workers, postal service workers, etc.)
At the end of the day, it’s important to do what’s right for you and monitor your internet consumption and mood if you feel like something is off!
RESOURCES
- Changes in Digital Communication During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic: Implications for Digital Inequality and Future Research (Link) (Nguyen, Gruber, Fuchs, Marter, Hunsaker, & Hargittal, 2020)
- Technology As a Coping Tool During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19) Pandemic: Implications and Recommendations (Link) (Garfin, 2020)
- The Virus Changed the Way We Internet (Link) (Koeze & Popper, April 7, 2020)
- The Coronavirus is the First True Social-Media “Infodemic” (Link) (Hao & Basu, 2020)
- You Have a Moral Responsibility to Post Your Boring Life on Instagram (Link) (Tiffany, 2020)
