The Polarised World of the Information Age

Oct 18

Oct 18 The Polarised World of the Information Age

Today, in the Information Age, communication has become as easy as flicking a light switch. Just tap a piece of plastic a few times and you can talk to people on the other side of the world. If you told this to someone who had lived one hundred years ago, they simply would not believe you. In fact, even someone from fifty years ago would struggle. The smartphone is truly a fantastic invention and the boom following the invention of platforms like Facebook and Instagram has changed the world, yet I often find myself thinking has it changed it for the better?

It would be foolish to say that social media was completely detrimental to society because of course that is not true. Were it not for the ease with which we can communicate nowadays, movements like Extinction Rebellion or Black Lives Matter would not have made such an impact or have global recognition to the extent they do now. Social media allows people to spread information which might otherwise have gone unreported such as the police brutality in America which sparked the protests this summer. The call on people to educate themselves about race relations has, I believe, had a genuine and hopefully lasting effect on society. Social media has also allowed movements to grow and spread all over the world. Extinction Rebellion now has chapters on almost every continent and Greta Thunberg is internationally recognisable as the girl who stood up to the Establishment to fight for the future of the planet. Were it not for social media, she would not have spoken at some of the most important climate conferences of the last two years and she would not have been able to galvanise people into fighting for change.

However, as with anything in this world, there is a flipside. With the Information Age has come a period of increasingly extreme polarisation. Misinformation and polarisation affect everyone, and our social media feeds play a huge part in this. We often forget that, as a result of the algorithms used by social media and technology companies, each person’s feed is unique, so while you might think that another person’s opinion is completely ridiculous and wonder how on earth they could have come to that conclusion, you are not seeing exactly the same thing as they are, nor are you being presented with the same information in the same way. Today’s globalised world, connected with the internet, mobile phones and social media, has changed and formed very quickly. This last decade has drastically changed how we communicate with one another but neither the law nor education has evolved adequately to cope with or tackle the challenges. Someone who is in their forties now would not have grown up with a smartphone or with social media in its current omnipresent form, nor, therefore, would they have been educated about how to source reliable information in today’s world.

While the rise of many important and worthwhile movements can be attributed to social media, so too can the rise of more malicious ideologies such as right-wing extremism, Islamic extremism, as well as the increased belief in certain conspiracy theories such as Covid-19 being caused by 5G masts. The result of this, when coupled with our individualised feed, is the polarised world in which we live today. When one is presented with misinformation and fake news from a seemingly legitimate source it hinders any attempt to research or discuss matters objectively because so many people are under the impression that the ‘other side’ are always wrong. Not only are those on the opposite side of the argument always wrong but they are evil, or they are trying to destroy society, or they are stupid, or they believe one thing so they must believe several other equally moronic things – the list goes on. Either way this inability to have a balanced discussion with those who hold a different opinion is dangerous.

The internet allows movements to spawn without a leader or figure head, which at first seems like a great thing because it makes it easier to assemble or propel a movement but, on reflection, it just makes a movement more unreliable and allows outside forces to manipulate the narrative, especially on social media where we cannot control what we see because it is the algorithm which has all the power. While social media helps you find others like yourself who share the same views, opinions and beliefs as you do, it does not actually contribute to healthy discussion between people of different opinions because the algorithms calculate how best to grab your attention by showing you things you are likely to agree with or enjoy. In addition to this, the anonymity of social media means that people feel brave enough to say slanderous or cruel things which they would not dare to say to somebody’s face. It anonymises others as well as yourself and allows people to ignore the consequences of their actions on those they hurt. As such social media allows you to surround yourself with people who agree with you until you cannot even consider any other point of view and with the lowered inhibitions of anonymity it exacerbates emotions and often exhibits itself in the real world as civil unrest.

While social media does indeed influence civil unrest, both in positive and negative ways, the wholesale removal of access to the internet, such as the action taken by the Indian government in August 2019, has devastating consequences. Medical facilities were unable to communicate amongst themselves putting patient care in immense danger and new businesses and tourism suffered greatly without the internet. On a more individual level such a shutdown prevents family members from communicating with each other and forces people to move away for work. Ordinary people in the outside world have almost no idea what is happening in the region nor do people from elsewhere in India. With the growth of social media and levels at which the internet is used globally, censorship on this scale is disastrous for those who get caught in its net.

Every so often something is created that fundamentally changes society as we know it, so much so that the invention cannot be reversed or taken away. The internet and social media fall neatly into this category along with the printing press and electricity. The unintended result of their creation is a more polarised, more extreme world where people forget that life is full of grey areas, where people are able to find comrades to support their causes but also enemies at whom they can direct their ire. If social media can help assemble protesters and movements fighting for just causes, then it can also do the same for the sections of society which are fuelled by hatred and distrust. This makes for a world ill at ease with itself, in which a peaceful protest can turn easily into a riot, but the answer cannot be to take the internet away for to do so would be to take away all the good it can do. Instead we must learn how to use it best to our advantage and how to curb its more unsavoury effects.