Introduction

In 2021, a record breaking 4.26 billion people had social media handles online - this is about 54% of the world’s population. This number is only expected to rise to six billion by 2027. Social media has such an impact on our livelihoods because it can expose us repeatedly to other cultures and ideologies. Additionally, this can be a source for good as it can connect people and bridge differences but at the same time, can also be force of evil as it can continually expose us to controversial and radical opinions, as well as allow us to hide behind a false identity which leads us to say whatever we like to say, without being held accountable for our actions. 

This article details what political polarization is, why social media is impacting our opinions, real examples of political polarisation via social media, and finally how we can avoid being impacted by social media.

What is Political Polarization? 

According to the ECPS, or the European Centre for Populism Studies, “Political polarization can refer to the divergence of political attitudes to ideological extremes.” This means that under extreme circumstances, people go to extremely different scales on the political spectrum such as the Extreme Left (Marxist Communism) and the Extreme Right (Fascism) rather than the centre or somewhere near it. 

Mass polarisation occurs when citizens in a country become extremely divided on their opinions, often taking one of two sides. This eventually ends in each citizen believing that they are correct to the extreme, and that the opposing side is wrong. This is a threat to the safety of a nation as it could tear it in two. On the other hand, political polarization is completely different to a normal political system where there are two (or more) parties and each side is willing to compromise with the other, or meet in the middle. However, in political polarisation, it is an “us” or “them” situation where neither are willing to compromise and come to an agreement. 

One thing to state is that there is no middle ground in polarization. If one chooses a side, the other instantly becomes an enemy. Oftentimes, the extreme right-wing is more dangerous than the extreme left-wing because the right-wing holds more power and is more likely to attack than the left-wing.

Why and How is Social Media Influencing Our Opinions? 

Political polarization and social media come hand in hand because of how big an influence it is nowadays. According to the Pew Research Centre, 86% of American adults get their news from an electronic device such as a phone, a computer, or a tablet. In addition, 48% of people from ages 18-29 say that they get most of their information from social media, which is the majority in the poll the Pew Research Centre took. Social media is a more popular option for news because it is easier to click and read posts rather than find information via reading a long article in a newspaper. 

Social media has recently become more popular because it helps us connect to people across the world and widen our worldview. While this part of social media is useful, human beings' thoughts are naturally influenced by their surrounding environments. Social media can suck us into a void when we click a post which may pass along extreme opinions and continue to click and click and click until your feed is filled with posts with only those extreme opinions. Internet “trolls” are also fuelling polarisation because “trolls” start arguments, turning members of the internet against each other until each side believes they are correct in every way and that the other side is wrong. 

A study by the Pew Research Centre found that people who use social media to keep up to date with news pay less attention to and are less knowledgeable about current affairs and politics. 48% of young adults from the age of 18-19 fall under this category. The study then asked the group multiple questions about their knowledge of the Trump Impeachment and the outbreak of Covid which were major news points at the time. Results from the study showed that 57% of the people who rely on social media have very low political knowledge. In addition, those who get most of their news from social media are also more likely to believe false information and be persuaded by radical claims.This experiment proved that people who use social media as their primary news source have less awareness on current affairs, meaning they are more susceptible to political polarisation as they will believe anything that pops up into their feed. 

Another study by the University of Georgia took place in which a professor asked students to watch a false interview and divided them into groups. There was a control group which only viewed the comments in the video which said a politician was deceptive and another group which only viewed comments saying the journalist was biassed. The students were then asked to post comments on the video based on the comments they had read. The ones the students had posted echoed the sentiments of the comments they had been asked to read. This experiment proves that comments in an internet forum or a social media post influence our thoughts, and that only reading a certain group of posts makes people choose a side, whether subconsciously or not. 

What are Real-Life Examples of the Effects of Social Media in Political Polarization? 

Political polarization is becoming more and more common in our modern society. There are multiple examples of modern day polarization now. 

Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer, and a TikTok star,  is a major example of internet polarization. His views are violently misogynistic and his supposed “self-help” videos are not found on extreme right-wing fringe sites but on major social media sites. Andrew Tate is single-handedly reversing all the progress social justice and women's suffrage have fought in order to create a more equal society and is bringing back conservative opinions. 

Some of his most controversial opinions are that rape is a “woman’s fault” and that they should bear responsibility. He also thinks that women belong at home and are a male’s property, not their own individual beings. His upsurge in fame comes from the fact that his followers find clips of their most controversial videos and create false accounts in order to boost his popularity. 

Additionally, Andrew Tate is known for his straight talking style and his videos often come off as “funny” or “humorous,” drawing the viewer in to watch more videos. His armies of supporters say that his videos are a response to cancel and woke cultures. His main target audience are teen boys who are especially naive and impressionable, which means that once a viewer starts following Andrew Tate’s ideals, it will be extremely hard to change their opinions. 

It is important that we all are vigilant and question everything we hear online. It is also vital we do not believe and be persuaded by what someone says online. 

Another major example of political polarization via social media is the QAnon Movement which has left the USA divided. In short, QAnon is an American conspiracy theory movement which spread on fringe sites and on mainstream social media. They are an extreme right-wing group which spread false and extreme rumours about the democratic administration. Examples of their rumours include “Trump winning the 2020 Elections,” “Pizzagate,” and many more extreme and absurd theories. People believe in QAnon, especially after events such as the pandemic because they need somebody to point their anger at and blame for everything going on around them. Since we do not understand what is going on, we feel so confused. In addition, psychologist Jan-Willem van Prooijen wrote that people find it easy to believe in more conspiracy theories once they believe in one. Feelings of confusion and fear lead people to blindly believe the first thing they hear, trying to look for answers. Unfortunately, conspiracy theories do nothing to soothe rising panic and instead fuels resentment and anger. 

On January 6, 2021, angry extreme right-wing protestors stormed the Capitol in Washington D.C. to protest against the former president Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden. There were multiple casualties and many extremist groups arose from this. The people in America are straying further and further from the centre, which could tear apart democracy as we know it, and the government systems we have in place. 

How Can We Avoid being Affected by Social Media? 

Political polarization is a problem because it can easily destroy society itself by crippling government systems such as democracy and is being fuelled by false information and bias. However, we can avoid being affected by social media by not depending on one source; cross-checking our sources, using credible ones, and being critical of everything we read. By not depending on one news source, we broaden our view and make sure our opinions are not influenced by a certain side, leading us to getting multiple perspectives in a situation. It is also important to cross-check our information because sometimes, sources lie about information, and by cross-checking, we can know the full scope of a situation. 

Furthermore, some sources are especially biassed to the left and right-wings. Some of these sources include Fox News, which is a popular conservative right wing platform. We should be more wary of right-wing sources, as they are more common and popular than left-wing sources.

Finally, it is also important to be critical about what information we are receiving. News found on social media can often be false and it is important to be sceptical until we have enough information and scope to know if something is real or fake.  

Conclusion

In conclusion, social media has a major impact on our political opinions because of how vast the internet is nowadays. Using social media, we can connect with people with different ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, social media can also continually expose us to radical opinions and surround our feed with only one perspective, effectively influencing us to only think a certain way. In effect, social media can be a dangerous political tool, as seen in the cases of QAnon and January 6th, as well as Andrew Tate spreading misogynist and hateful messages. I believe that social media can be used as a tool for good and can potentially unite people around the world but at the same time, can also tear us and our entire society apart.

Sources

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