Why We Prioritize In-Person Speeches
While our dependence on social media and technology continues to rise, the frequency of physical interaction and in-person contact steadily disappears from daily life. We perform our jobs remotely, receive contactless delivery, and even buy groceries via self-checkouts, eliminating any occasion for human interaction. While these conveniences come with blessings (as somebody who works remotely I can attest to these) they also indicate a troubling direction for the future. As our dependence on technology over human connection increases, many researchers anticipate there will be detrimental consequences for our physical, mental, and emotional health. Additionally, however, it will become increasingly more difficult to think critically about the news of the day as we become more dependent on these virtual sources. For a country founded upon certain principles, this ideological enervation could erode the framework that upholds our liberty.
Daniel at one of our first-ever speeches in Utah.
Studies have shown that information taken in through a screen, whether media or news, is less likely to be given serious critical thought despite the readiness with which it is taken in and digested. If teens and youth were only using the internet for sports highlights and social updates, this would not be a problem. Polls indicate however that the average 18-30 year old gets the majority of their world news from social media, and furthermore, that they trust these sources more than most major news outlets.
What happens to a generation of students when sites like Instagram and TikTok become their main access to the pressing issues of the day? Well, people will stop recognizing the threat behind certain ideologies, such as the frightening rise of socialist ideas and agendas. With a blissful “out of sight out of mind” attitude—one that the abstract media experience promotes—the vast majority of the American public is taught to tacitly accept dangerous agendas.
The trouble with receiving all our news and filtering all our ideas through social media is that it conveniently keeps the consequences of those ideas at arms’ length—safe in the realm of make-believe. It’s one thing to hear about people far away enduring a danger that only exists on a screen which you can conveniently darken with a “click.” It’s quite another matter to speak face to face with an eyewitness. A person can bring reality to these issues—and our generation needs reality more than anything. A live testimonial has the power to go beyond the transmission of information. Live speeches prompt attention; they prompt active listening; they prompt action on the part of the witness. They inspire the kind of thinking that will preserve and protect the liberties and principles that have made this nation great from its first founding.
This is why at the Dissident Project we are committed to sending our speakers to highschools across the country in person. That human interaction is vital for the speakers to connect with students and deliver their message of freedom. Their stories must be heard and considered if the next generation of Americans has a chance of taking seriously the growing threat of authoritarianism.
