Inherent aspects of social media that amplify divides and bad thinking
People Who Read People: A Behavior and Psychology Podcast
English - December 28, 2021 04:00 - 39 minutes - 26.9 MB - ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsSocial Sciences Science Society & Culture Philosophy psychology behavior science politics sociology nonverbal deception behaviour mental illness Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
This is a piece that I, Zach Elwood, wrote about the ways in which social media (and internet communication more broadly) may be amplifying us-versus-them polarization and extreme thinking. Much of the mainstream coverage of how social media may be amplifying divides and making people unhappy is on product-specific features and algorithms. But what if there are inherent aspects of internet communication that amplify animosity and bad thinking, no matter the format or structure of the tool? What if "the medium is the message" in some way? This piece examines the psychological processes by which social media may be deranging us and talks about strategies for reducing unhelpful group-versus-group animosity.
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