Few citizens will doubt that the uncontrolled explosion of social media has contributed mightily to our polarization as a nation. Little evidence is necessary to convince the most casual observers.
We have each experienced the endless argument with a friend or family member on Facebook with the likely conclusion that we haven’t spoken with them since the engagement. The bitterness clashes have separated us into tribes that reinforce our own beliefs.
The fake news. The fact checks. The circular arguments. The social media exhaustion has left us wanting to stay away from “the other” and congregate with “the us.” The enormous divide that naturally forms organically seems almost insurmountable now.
We label “the other” as stupid. Brainwashed. Idiots. Each side calls the other of the same names and with the same intolerance.
The questions we face are troublesome. Can we reunite again? Can we find common ground? Can we see the other side as equals? Can we salvage our nation?
It seems strange to think so, but we have been here before. 1968. 1929. 1876. 1861. 1832. 1786. These years had moments where our nation’s bonds were tested and nearly broke, with 1861 being the most bloody moment. Yet, we found a way to reunite, to once again come together, on a journey of progress over perfection.
The Norms of Social Media
We must take a deep breath, and take a step back from the abyss. We must recognize the temptations of social media and turn away–easier said that done.
Let me digress for a moment.
A small child has cognitive developmental stages that it progresses through. One stage occurs between the ages of two and four when they begin to learn how to lie. The child at this stage begins to learn that other people have different beliefs than they do and those beliefs vary based on experience.
An adult may place a cookie in front of a child and walk out of the room. While the adult is away, the tempted child may eat the cookie. When the adult returns, she may question the child. If the child believes he might get in trouble, he may lie and say he didn’t eat the cookie.
Such simple lies are important cognitive steps for the child. They are learning that they can manipulate perceptions to change beliefs…though the simple example likely doesn’t fool the sophisticated adult.
Over time, we begin to learn the boundaries of when lies work, and when they are harmful, and we make calculated choices when or when not to deploy lies.
Learning to lie is a key cognitive stage of development for a toddler.
By analogy, I would argue we are in the toddler stage for social media. Yes, we are fooled by fake news. We are fooled by lies and propaganda on social media, but I would argue that those lies will soon lose their power as they inevitably do for a maturing brain.
We’ve likely seen this happen with email. Email is not quite as interactive as social media, but it is a form of rapid communication that was susceptible to fake news or more commonly fake links in the early 2000s.
Over time, however, we as a culture have learned not to “click” on links that seem sketchy. We have learned the unreliability and the vulnerability untrusted links pose.
We also learn who is likely to pass on such emails. Remember that one guy in the office who used to forward jokes, links, news, etc.? We stopped trusting that guy too. Now, few people forward non-sense emails.
It will take time, but social media will meet a similar fate.
As I have mentioned, I do not have a recommendation at this point for how to repair the polarization that social media has created. I can only highlight the effects and my prognosis that it will fade as a polarizing agent.
When new media emerges, it tends to polarize. The penny presses back in the 19th century were a major technological leap that made newspapers affordable to the masses. Muckrakers used this democratization to gain enormous wealth through yellow journalism, which didn’t fade away until the professionalization of journalism took hold as the 20th century dawned.
The next leap was with radio and television, which didn’t initially suffer from the slanderous gutterization that penny presses brought because of two factors. The first was the momentum of professional journalism catapulting from the stable newspaper era of the early 1900s.
The second was the technological monopoly and the resulting federal regulation under which broadcast systems operated. This control kept a lid on polarizing demagogues at least until Joseph McCarthy.
Senator Joseph McCarthy.
McCarthy figured out how to use the broadcast media to bypass professional journalists to inflame and polarize the public. Ultimately, the journalists fought back as Edward R. Murrow was able to slay the demagogue and restore public trust in mass media.
With deregulation in the 1980s and the emergence of the Internet in the 1990s, the stage was set for social media as a perfect storm for the “child” coming of age and learning how to lie. We are in the throes of that development stage where fake news and untrue posts whip up our emotions into unmanageable polarization.
With time, this too shall pass.
However, we must find a way to heal our wounds and reunite. I don’t have the solution, yet, to that challenge, but I hope to continue asking the question and searching for the answer.