Not everyone has the opportunity to share their story on social media. Access to the device itself, the platforms, decent network and a wide audience is a privilege.
Our smart phones, combined with internet and various apps, provide great opportunities for storytelling and sharing. In theory, we should be able to see content from all corners of the world. We should be able to get a myriad of views and opinions. And different stories about, and aspects of, development. When there was only books and magazines, getting stories from places culturally and geographically far away was hard. Now, it is easy. In theory. There is now an increased quantity of all sorts of storytelling, including the kind that has development and aid as the main communication focus. New media and technologies such as smart- phones, tablets, and computers, together with online social media platforms, has changed the communication of solidarity.
Humanitarian work continues on the ground, sometimes under extraordinary duress, but now the larger public has been invited to engage in humanitarian action via digital means. (Shringarpure, B. 2020)
This comes with opportunities of course. But not only. Not everyone has access to the technology that provide opportunities to tell their stories. This especially tru in countries where many people live in poverty. Many poor people instead have their stories told (if told at all) by aid workers, journalists, communication departments of INGOs and, quite possibly, volunteers. And all of these storytellers tend to succumb to the retell the story already out there, to stereotypes. But most often, their stories do not get told at all. With so little information, such a small number of stories being shared and known, it can become “The single story”.
Technology has the power to create and spread an infinite number of stories, but since technology is not available to everyone, it doesn’t. And it can become even more problematic if the people who do not get to tell their own stories, have their stories told by others. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie puts it :
Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person. The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes that if you want to dispossess a people, the simplest way to do it is to tell their story
If you are going to the global south, or any other context where people are living in poverty, without access to technology, do consider the digital divide and what it means in terms of their opportunity to tell their stories.
You can be part of diversifying the story with the help of your platforms and your audience, you can listen to other people’s stories and make sure they are shared with the world. Technology doesn’t automatically solve any problems, but used the right way they have the power to change status quo. It is up to you!
Read more:
Ngozi Adichie, C. 2009: The Danger of a Single Story (transcript of the talk), TED https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en
Shringarpure, B. 2020: Africa and the Digital Savior Complex (Links to an external site.), Journal of African Cultural Studies, 32:2, 178-194.