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Course: Social media literacy > Unit 5
Lesson 2: How does persuasive technology amplify societal problems?How does persuasive technology keep us from solving problems?
Social media is reducing our capacity for shared understanding and wisdom
How does persuasive technology keep us from solving problems?
“...the big question of human history, and the first question of human history, is how do you get hundreds and then thousands and then finally hundreds of millions of humans to cooperate?”
– Yuval Noah Harari, historian and best-selling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, on Your Undivided Attention
What does social media do to our capacity to collaborate, especially on very hard, very big problems like climate change? When it shows us reasons to be outraged more than reasons to trust one another, that capacity goes down. When it shows different groups radically different views of reality, that capacity goes down. When it contributes to anxiety, insecurity, and an inability to focus, that capacity goes down.
Social media is diminishing our capacity for shared understanding and to make wise, informed choices.
To bring about a better future, we need to collaborate to solve difficult problems. The distortions of our social media environment makes this work, the work of democracy, very difficult. When we lose trust in one another, fewer people vote, fewer people step into public service in good faith, fewer people engage in the difficult but necessary work of listening and finding compromise, and fewer people show up to support and shape our communities.
When shared understanding shatters, democracy shatters.
Watch this bonus clip from The Social Dilemma to learn more about how social media platforms have been used to undermine democracies around the world.
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