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Social Media Threatens Democracy
Lately, I have been focusing on the many threats to democracy. I think that it is one of the most important issues we could be focusing on.
Many have written extensively about the rise of populism, especially right-wing populism in various parts of the Globe. I won’t do that here.
Here I will focus on the threat of social media. It is somewhat related. But it deserves a separate focus.
Social media threatens democracy because of the financial incentives associated with it. The way around that is to adjust the algorithm.
We all know the feeling. It’s been a long day at work. We don’t feel particularly great about our energy levels. We know we have to cook a meal, but we give in and sit on the couch, just “for thirty minutes.”
Then an hour later, we look at the clock and regret our procrastination.
In the meantime, we watched dozens (if not hundreds) of Tik-Toks. In the mix there we saw various extreme views. Maybe we open Twitter to catch some of the news of the day. Once again, we are met with shouting matches and echo chambers. Comment sections rife with trolls and bots.
Days like this continue month after month, year into year. And here we are some 14 years after the creation of many of these apps.
