Has the evolving online space become more political than recreational?

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Over the past 50 years, the globe has journeyed into a digital era. And, as we entered the 21st century, digital devices saw an increase in usage, with around 4.6 billion people using the internet according to datereportal.com. Traditionally, digital devices like televisions, computers, and mobile phones were used for recreational purposes such as entertainment, and the ability to connect with family and friends.

 

However, over the past 10 years, both corporate and political sectors have taken advantage of the tools that the digital space has to offer – which is namely access to people – and citizens are often flooded with non-recreational campaigns. This therefore begs the question – has the online space become overwhelming political?

 

Social media

 

Created as platforms where you can connect with friends and family, the social media space appears to be a regular subject to businesses and politics. Specifically, businesses take advantage of influencer marketing and political elections use their access to people as a way to get ahead. This can be seen through UK company, Pretty Little Thing, who use Love Island contestant Molly-Mae to promote their products, and via Donald Trump’s Twitter page, where Tweets would more often than not go viral and gain attention.

 

Despite the overwhelming presence of business and politics at times, with the introduction of features like live video streaming and stories, people still share information about their lives on a day-to-day basis and you can still be greeted by your friends and family when using chat services. Plus, social media gives its users the ability to hide ads if you wish, which means you can take back its recreational nature. This means that social media is simply a tool used for politics, rather than politics being the purpose of social media.

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Online games

Online games are often used as a tool to escape reality, though sometimes, real-life can’t help itself and inserts its presence into the digital world. Techxplore.com goes into detail about politics in gaming but one game that is globally popular – Animal Crossing, allowed people to add Biden’s posters to their game during the 2020 presidential election. This just goes to show that politics have saturated sectors that were intentionally for recreational purposes.

 

Nevertheless, the gaming space is still overwhelmingly recreational and it’s rare to see a political figure pop up in your game of Tetris or Mario Kart – after all, Mario and Luigi will always be the stars of the show. Lucky for those that want the traditional, non-political games to live on, sites like bonus.net.nz/leovegas/ list a host of benefits for playing traditional games, such as bonuses and free spins on your favourite slot machine. It’s likely, for games like these, you’ll still find your favourite cartoon character taking centre stage.

 

Television

 

While television has always been used for key figures and journalists in society to inform nations of current affairs, often involving politics, television is also a source of entertainment where fiction can be watched. It’s therefore not surprising that films, which are, for the most part, fiction, either introduce an element of politics or base their storyline on a true event. One prime example is The King’s Speech which looks at King George’s political journey. Nonetheless, you still get films like Twilight which are evidently fictional, unless of course, you believe Vampires do exist.

 

In sum, politics exist everywhere. Though, in answer to our earlier question, rather than taking over recreational purposes, they have simply fused with them and co-exist with entertainment and socialising.