Social media is radicalising our politics

In the quickfire world of social media, there is no room for a moderate view or nuance; it’s all or nothing.

This article features in our latest print issue. Purchase it here, or subscribe here to receive all our print issues.

There is no doubt that social media is designed to be addictive, to consume our lives and our time. We could talk in length about how everybody, including myself, has fallen to the addiction of the black mirror of our phones and other devices.

There is another creeping impact social media has had, and that’s radicalising our political spheres and discourse.

Most people scoff when Donald Trump calls the media ‘fake news’, seeing it as an attack on the free press, but I see it as an entirely accurate depiction of our news media which is now consumed in bitesize chunks across all social media platforms. It’s about the headline, getting the clicks and, most of all, psychologically manipulating someone to have a particular worldview.

It matters not about the content of the articles we share but only the emotionally-driven headline that directly leads us to a conclusion without an ounce of critical thinking at play.

When we comment on this misleading news, a crowd of others who fell into the same trap 'like' and share that post and it becomes a quick hit of self-validation, leading us to the same behavioural loop, time and time again.

Social media can, of course, be a tool to discuss and debate with others, but more often it is a place of echo-chambers where a group of people can lead themselves to any conclusion because no one around them questions anything they say.

It is a false version of real human interaction, a place where children neglect real learning, critical thinking or reading for the quick and addictive thrill of a tweet or Instagram story.

News spreads so rapidly that ‘fake news’ can become real news merely as it is repeated over and over until it becomes 'truth'.

I have always considered myself a capitalist, as someone that applauds market innovation, but there has to be a limit, and the psychologically manipulative tactics of the social media giants is that limit. It is not just causing trivial issues, it is radicalising people and altering the very fabric of our society to the point of no return.

Making a product that people can enjoy is admirable but making one that is designed to grab us and never let go is something far more sinister.

To give an example, I have noticed many of my friends posting threads on their Instagram stories about the political issues of the day. Instead of thoughtful posts, these are radical viewpoints that are justified through outrage alone, and yet they spread to all who look as if it is the gospel truth.

Even celebrities, who should be moral examples, are guilty of this more than anyone; using their huge following to get their fans to fall into their line of thinking.

Now everyone follows the crowd, and those that do not are seen as being morally reprehensible.

It is conformity culture in its worst possible form.

In the quickfire world of social media, there is no room for a moderate view or nuance; it’s all or nothing.

This issue has become so legion that solving it seems a vain hope, and attempting to suggest what to do seems even more fruitless.

However, there are certainly some changes I have tried to employ to my own habits to begin to wrestle my mind back to a natural state in this world of social media consumption.

I believe we could all do with reading more and reading widely. There is no gospel truth in politics or history, there are only nuanced positions that each have their own evidence and philosophies. To explore knowledge and to decide who we are, reading these philosophies is the first step.

Furthermore, I believe social media should not replace human interaction but it should be a bridge to it. Meeting diverse people is one way to begin to develop a diverse mind. If we can reduce our screen time, and work through the mental health issues social media directly causes, then maybe there is some hope that society and politics can arrive back to a time of real debate and free thought instead of moral outrage.

However, things will likely get a lot worse before they can begin to get any better.

Regardless, there is no doubt in my mind that social media is radicalising our politics and altering our society for the worst.

We all have a small part to play in wrestling our discourse back to some sort of normality.