Is Social Media Good for Democracy? U.S. Says No.
Pew Pew Center Research conducted a survey and polled 19 countries across the globe, including the United States, asking individuals questions regarding their social media usage and how they believe it impacts democracy. The results revealed that the majority of countries believe that social media has been positive for democracy, but the United States had a shockingly negative perception of social media in regards to politics, being a major outlier in multiple different belief sectors. Only 34% of United States citizens believe that social media "has been good for democracy," while a whopping 64% of citizens believe it has been a negative influence. Many of the reasons why American citizens perceive social media in such a negative manner is that they believe that it has been incredibly decisive, causing individuals to be less respectful, civil, and open-minded towards individuals possessing opposite the political orientation. Americans also stated that they believe that social media has served as a means for "manipulation and division among societies." For this particular measure, the majority of countries polled agreed, in which 84% of citizens among these 19 countries believed that social media has caused individuals to be more susceptible to manipulation, being more gullible to following inaccurate information and rumors.
When everything boils down, it is imperative that we stay mindful about the role social media plays in politics.
Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/12/06/social-media-seen-as-mostly-good-for-democracy-across-many-nations-but-u-s-is-a-major-outlier/
I could agree that social media increases the chance of someone falling victim to manipulation. There is so much fake information out there that people believe just because someone said it, in other words, confirmation bias has increased with the prevalence of social media. With that being said, I don't think I would agree that social media is bad for democracy. I think a marketplace of ideas is what American democracy is built on. I think there are many other factors that lead to the decisiveness we see on social media, such as the homogeneous characteristics of the 2 major political parties as we move even further from centrism.
ReplyDeleteI will say that the various far right and far left movements have definitely contributed to the manipulation and fake news in social media.
It is evident that social media plays a significant role in not just politics, but across all facets of society. When you asked a kid 10 years ago what they wanted to be when they grow up you would commonly hear things like, "astronaut, president, teacher, nurse, doctor, sports player" etc. Now you hear things like, twitch streamer, influencer, content creator etc. The younger generation live and breath social media so it is no wonder why politicians would utilize that as a resource to spread their messaging.
ReplyDeleteSocial media has the potential to create a lot of good such as by connecting immigrant communities abroad, allowing people to stay in touch, spread ideas, and generate tangible benefits off the internet. Though it has been used in political settings to create echo chambers where people only listen to what they want to hear. I think this might be worse in the US where our political system is first past the post, winner take all that almost always results in a 2 party system. There isn't a lot of room for other parties, nuanced stances, and diverse representation. In turn it makes individuals see every scenario as winner take all or a zero sum game, rather the seeing issues as nuanced/multi-faceted.
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