Digital Storytelling and The Price of Perception

 By: Blake Sampson 
Content Development FTA, 
Fall 2025 Multimedia Capstone

    

    In todays media influenced world, digital storytelling has become one of the most powerful tools for shaping how we see homelessness and poverty. Online media platforms like Youtube, Instagram, Tiktok, X (formerly Twitter) have created an entire economy around empathy or outrage just for your attention and clicks. While some creators use their platforms to raise awareness and have things to inform you how you can get involved or donate for these causes with things like planned events to raise money or direct links that you can use to donate your money others however, chase clicks by filming addition, mental illness, and suffering. Turning human pain into marketable and monetizable content. The more shocking the footage, the higher the engagement means the higher the profit.

    In the book Howard Garners Changing Minds, He tells us that real change rarely happens through facts alone. Your brain shifts when messages, videos, or photos connect with you emotionally. Especially if these come from credible sources and impact your own personal values. Many Viral Creators master irresponsible techniques like creating problematic thumbnails in order for you to click on these videos gaining millions of views, so if you haven't even watched the videos you may scroll by and just assume that these are true based on the attention it receives. Not only do these reinforce harmful stereotypes but online creators use their own platform at times to redirect things like anger, frustration, and hate towards things like city leaders for example. Blaming failed systems without offering solutions or context. Garner would refer to this as reinforcing an existing mental model rather than transforming it.

    I do want to emphasize there are online platforms and creators who do implement ethical storytelling. Those who recognize empathy and credibility to use their platform not for their own view/biases but use it to allow those to tell their stories who have always remained voiceless. When influencers or creators frame stories with honesty, empathy, and compassion, they do in fact encourage viewers to see the complexity of homelessness rather than just what they see online or on the local news. Titles we have seen from the media and even the president of the united states say things like "War on Homelessness" which is a term used to describe policies that focus on measures against homelessness rather than addressing the root cause adds to these narratives. The language creates the idea that this  un-housed population of the city is the problem and needs to be eliminated rather than helping assistance or finding a common solution. Gardner's has created principles and shown through his book "Changing Minds" that persuasion is an art form, requiring both emotional intelligence and responsibility. As viewers we must use our own critical thinking to decide which stories deserve our attention. Every click can either exploit or amplify these voices in our community and shape our personal narrative without the audience ever realizing it.

    So the questions is, 

  Does this new form of digital storytelling helping someone be heard? Or is helping someone get paid?