New Study Proves Social Media Is Making Us More Partisan And Angry - Ring of Fire

[Rhiannon12866]

A new study from New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights has found that social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have made Americans more partisan than ever before - and also more angry at the "opposing side." This isn't surprising, and anyone that has gone down the rabbit hole in a comment section could have told you this. But the study does point to a dangerous trend that Americans are seeking out only information that goes along with their beliefs and shutting out everything else. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins discusses this.

[SheltieLover]

1. No doubt it is making people angry

[littlemissmartypants]

2. I believe it is less us seeking out such information

Than it is the algorithms that develop from our use of social media directing us to content that consistently sends us down the rabbit holes that divide us. This is a built-in feature of social media and how Google, Facebook and Twitter monetize their content, keep us addicted to the dopamine and cortisol rushes of interaction while they isolate and divide us.

If you haven't already, please watch The Social Dilemma.


https://democraticunderground.com/1017683000

❤pants

[ymetca]

3. Every New Technology

gets misused, misdirected, monetized, militarized, etc., until its full potential becomes more apparent.

Global telecommunications technology appears to be in its "adolescent" phase. The Dawning of the Noosphere, in the pre-adolescent phase of the Anthropocene Era.

Me giving these words capitals in the middle of sentences makes them seem more important than they are. They're just thoughts. In my head. That I expressed here. Hoping someone might Google "noosphere" and "anthropocene" and ponder the blending of the two ideas, as have many others, in hopes of wrenching away this Beast from its perilous path...

[Roy Rolling]

4. Roots

At the foundation of entertainment programs is conflict and drama, resolved on the end by the climax/end.

Phony/corrupt news thinks it enough to only present drama, because there is no climax/end to a current event story.

So we are bombarded with conflict and drama without resolution by for-profit media companies with a slavish devotion to their shareholders, justified as maximizing shareholder value in a capitalistic system. And they’re right.

So what next? I’ve reported the problem without a solution, are you sufficiently angry now? 😂

[bucolic_frolic]

5. When they make you angry and fearful they can make money and control you

while you become competitive. It's guaranteed to separate you from your humanity, and even from the collective parts of those on your side.

[Dustlawyer]

6. The media companies spew whatever propaganda their big advertisers want them to.

The big advertisers are also big donors who use their donations to control our politicians. These are the two root problems that prevent us from making the changes WE need! We will not properly address issues like climate change, immigration, criminal justice reform and many others unless and until we solve these two root causes. It will take everyone United to have a chance to take back control over our government and media.

[Moebym]

7. I deleted my 12-year-old Twitter account earlier this year.

My experience on that platform has convinced me that it is a highly effective vehicle for radicalization, as Twitter makes it incredibly easy for anyone interested in fomenting chaos to quickly work entire groups of people into a frenzy and for anyone with an agenda who's looking to build a group of loyal adherents to create an echo chamber that quickly squashes dissent. I'd seen this happen almost in real time to someone I considered a friend; in the matter of just a few years, he was sucked in to the swamp that is far-left Twitter, a group composed of people every bit as awful as Trump's deplorables.

I feared I would plunge into an abyss of cynicism, anger, fear, paranoia and despair from which I would never be able to escape. I didn't want Twitter to turn me into someone I did not want to be.