The Gerodimos article was important to me in a scholarly way but also in a practical way. It went beyond a communication theory and discussed how a component of new media in society has concrete applications in bettering that society. Essentially, it got me thinking about what are the underlying motives to engage in helping make society better, and how I as a citizen can proactively engage others based on the findings in Gerodimos’ article.

Upon reading this study, I thought back to my days as a boy scout. Countless service projects, merit badges, trips to shelters, first aid kits, cleaning parks, raking leaves, and other activities comprised my experience in the Boy Scouts of America. Being a scout was something that all of my friends did. Having grown up in a heavily religious community, scouting was very much a social expectation (of course scouting flourishes in non-religious communities as well). It’s just what everyone did. It’s what my dad and grandparents did. The benefits of friendship and the feeling of inclusion and personal worth were intertwined in scouting, and the bi-products were positive contributions to society, or civic engagement. In this way, Gerodimos’ article rings true: 1) My friends were actively participating in scouts or civic engagement, 2) I had leaders that showed me a need in the community that I did not previously know existed, and 3) I was instructed in how to meet that need. As I saw my friends meeting that need, meeting the need myself allowed me to engage with friends and engage in the community. Often, I would see how my contributions benefitted others.

My experience in civic engagement, however, had nothing to do with new media. And it begs the question (as Gerodimos’ article asks), can new media like the internet produce greater civic engagement? Based on my experience as a youth in Boy Scouts, I might extend the question to: Can already existent civic engagement organizations adopt new media to further their causes? I would like to know if or how the Boy Scouts of America has incorporated new media into its program as a means to encourage those outside of civically-inclined social circles to participate in civic engagement programs like scouting. If, like we talked about last week, young people communicate with their peers to a great degree on smart phones, how then can new media serve as a means to fulfill young people’s objective of contributing to society through organizations in which they are already engaged? How can visual material as stated on page 227 be incorporated to inspire and motivate young people to participate in service to the community? One idea that comes to mind: if adults know a need in the community and can somehow capture it on video and send it to his/her scouts’ phones, would that motivate the youth to participate?