Facebook provides an illusion that social media is a healthy pathway for Americans to be politically attuned; a pathway that enables an individual to converse with political opponents, share political posts, and lastly to debate amongst partisan friends and foes. This naive assumption that Facebook helps with political tolerance and informing citizens is largely detached from reality. Facebook, in fact, is catastrophic for politics, because users have exploited the medium, creating irresponsible consequences that threaten democracy.
Among the many reasons Facebook is unhealthy for political development is the discrepancy between its true intent and application. Facebook was founded as a public, online space with the intended purpose of fostering communication amid “friends,” that has since been transformed into a contentious war ground during election cycles. Further, this medium has shamefully been a reliable source of news to many constituents instead of pure entertainment. This is problematic because citizens typically read the headline of a source—usually fabricated to allure an audience rather than beholden to fact— or a post that has been abridged to 140 characters, and they assume they know facts wholly. Facebook is also teeming with unreliable facts and stories with unchecked sources. How can citizens then make critical decisions about politics without an objective and precise view of the world?
Facebook has also just about eliminated our tolerance of political adversaries. With just a click of a button, a “friend” who shared something that is incongruent with your own beliefs can be silenced, by hiding, blocking, or unfriending this person. Hence, Facebook users (or rather abusers) have the impulse to only discuss and view articles that feed their own personal interest or reflect their own personal views. This travesty has skewed our sense of citizenship. We no longer critically think and accesses candidates or positions, but rather jump to conclusions before weighing alternate opinions. This is not democracy, rather it is anarchy.
Furthermore, outspoken political debate on Facebook has often been met with gruesome personal attacks. When beliefs are rattled, the compulsion should not be to demean an individual or group. This new-age extremism impels us to be nasty and vial with our remarks against challengers rather than level-headed. Personal attacks are all the more depraved because a computer empowers the user to do and say things they would not have the courage to do in person.
The best thing for political discussion hereafter is to return to the past, when politics was not reduced to partisan posts and sharing of articles on social media. We must return to a time when real discussion of politics occurred in person, at a pub, at the mall, or the park. This is where democracy lives—where we can get together and talk, where tolerance is forged, and people can truly be informed with real life scenarios. I caution you to step away from your screen and dare be a real, active citizen.
