Social Media, Education, and Polarization

So I haven't been blogging over quarantine, obviously, but I have been writing. Between online school and college applications I have kept busy, but being busy would not have prevented me from writing had I been committed to doing this. Truth be told I have had a longstanding fear of putting things on the internet. I have always had a desire to start a YouTube channel, a podcast, a blog, and I did do some of those things, but they never last. It isn't for lack of motivation, but out of fear of ridicule for my ideas, even the less controversial ones. Once something is on the internet it is out there forever. That is what we have all been told, and for some people that idea went in one ear and out the other, while for others like me, it has been so far ingrained in them it is hard to overcome. While I welcome critique and feedback of my ideas and views, social media has become a hostile place. It pressures people into commenting on situations they are uneducated about, and leads to making statements they don't mean. I voiced support for BLM before I even really understood what their values were as an organization and a movement because of the pressure to throw support behind one side or another and I regret not educating myself before having a reaction. This is one of many ways social media is vastly increasing the polarization of the world.

The election ended just days ago (unofficially) and I cannot count the amount of times in the past four years, or for that matter the past few weeks that I have heard some version of, "This nation is more divided than it ever has been." I find that notion extremely hyperbolic and uninformed considering our history of slavery and actual civil war, but I understand the point nonetheless. We use technology more than ever, especially in a pandemic when our physical interaction is limited, but when we scroll through social media we are all viewing an entirely different reality. We are all working with different sets of facts not only based off of who we follow and what we like, but what we interact with and comment on, how much time we spend viewing one thing or another, and what maximizes our screen time.

I do not dislike social media in the slightest and I don't mean to make it seem like I hate it or don't use it myself, because I absolutely do, but again this is a part of the problem. Our dependency as a society on tech is increasing, and while it has done wonders like find organ donors and fight for social justice, legislation is not keeping up. Our communities are revolutionizing and our government is not-- in more ways than one. The reason this is weighing on my mind so heavily is because I am currently writing an CCP English paper on the topic of social media's role in polarization and radicalization. I chose the topic because, in addition to entrepreneur and presidential candidate Andrew Yang piquing my interest in it, I have noticed it in myself. I realized the way that I shut down certain opposing views in ways that I didn't before because my Instagram feed had so quickly and subtlety turned into an echo chamber of my own opinions. There were some immediate steps that I took to fix this such as following those I disagree with, and attempting to increase media literacy by being aware of the various narratives being sold to me. In the end, my individual fixes are not enough to combat the widespread polarization and radicalization caused by the social media companies.

This English paper I mentioned, has to include both research and an argument for a specific stance and I have yet to decide what that stance will be. The only solution to this problem that I can foresee is creating human- centered technology, meaning we no longer treat people as products-- which to be clear is what companies are doing when they sell your data and personal information, or buy your attention with advertisements, etc. To force big tech to stop selling our data, to restrict ads, and to stop working toward maximizing an unhealthy amount of screen time, is to ask them to cut their profits. One could argue regulations so strict would be anti-capitalist, and perhaps they would be right to assert that, but we need drastic legislation drafted fast to combat the negative effects big tech companies are having on our communities, and I am hard pressed to find a catch- all solution. Let me know if you have any ideas below, but first we need to elect those who will listen to our concerns and put them into action.