This short video produced by the Psych of Tech Institute explains How Social Media Divides Us.
Before social media, members in our communities encountered each other in real life. It was possible to build friendship through personal interactions and mutual respect despite social or political differences. These relationships created “social capital” that bind us together to create “social fabric” that can tolerate minor opinion differences. Contrary to this, social media employ algorithms programmed to make sure you don’t interact or even come into contact with people you don’t like or agree with.
Tribalism is innate to human nature because the formation of tribes was what made our species successful. Making democracy work with our tribal instincts is a delicate balancing act. We need enough disagreements to challenge each other to make progress but not so much that our “social fabric” breaks apart.
Social media arrived at a time when our world was already polarized. The “Like” and the “Retweet” buttons together with the algorithms that are designed to only feed news we prefer have become “super-normal stimuli” that keep us continuously engaged and morally outraged. Many of the “fake news” headlines are examples of “super-normal stimuli” – the mental equivalent of “sugary junk food” that gives us that temporary high that leads to eventual addiction. For a democracy the results are disastrous when its citizens are addicted to constant outrage and unwillingness to compromise.
This video, 9:20 minute short, is well worth your time!