Social media was created in 1997; however, it wasn’t until a more recent time in the 21st century that social media had a role in our lives and in our politics. Politics has a lot of influence and power in our lives, and in this day and age a lot of people get their information through social media. In more recent years political figures have utilized social media increasingly to reach audiences. Along with the creation of political influences also pushes agendas and ideologies of a political party. Social media has a lot of power to influence our votes in elections and political opinions.
The information that is passed on social media helps inform the uninformed but also spreads misinformation. There is a major difference between being uninformed and misinformed, and the class that most people are in is what is affected by this spread of misinformation through social media. To understand how the knowledge we gain from social media impacts our voting habits, we first must look at what being uninformed and misinformed means and how it impacts people. Then I will provide some possible solutions to the issue of people being uninformed and misinformed.
The definition of uninformed is “not educated or unknowledgeable.” Most often the uninformed are the people who do not have access to technology to become more informed. Mass media and social media have provided a lot of people with the opportunity to become more informed about the evolving society. In 2023 the American Psychological Association declared that 40% of people chose to remain uninformed. These people are not seeking information on topics to become informed. They would rather choose to be uninformed, because of how upsetting some of the news can be. By opting out of even receiving any information, it affects their lives and voting habits in significant ways.
However, when people who are uninformed decide to become informed, they often go to social media for that information. About 53% of Americans say they get their news on social media. Most of them go either to Facebook or YouTube for their information. These platforms provide people with quick, short videos that are easy to digest. The issue lies with the fact that not all the information is accurate. While some information online is true, there is a lot of information online that is false, leading to misinformation.
Being misinformed is defined as “having wrong or inaccurate information”. Misinformation can either be completely false or can be withholding critical details from something in order to prove a point or get someone on your side. People often like to believe this misinformation because it aligns with their own political views, rather than looking for the actual truth. In other words, it provides people with comfort and validation, even if it is false also known as symbolic interactionism. This is all possible because of how highly personalized everyone's social media is. Meaning people more often see things that align with their views and do not challenge them. As political content continues to flood people's pages, it makes it easier for misinformation to spread and harder to detect. This contributes to the polarization of parties and distrust among voters. This is all possible because of the involvement of social media in the political atmosphere.
Political Knowledge is the retrieval of information about something in politics, either societal issues, political candidates, or civil knowledge. However, there is said to believe there are two dimensions within knowledge. One dimension being the knowledge that is received, and the other is the confidence in the knowledge received. Meaning more confidence in knowledge boosts political habits and preferences. This becomes a big problem with confidence is based on misinformation and not actual understanding.
There is a negative correlation between using social media for information and political knowledge of people. There is also evidence that it can hinder one's ability to learn about politics. While in election years people tend to see more political content, and it negatively affects political ideas. Recent studies also show that social media is not the ideal place to learn about politics on. Either because of the misinformation on the websites and because of the personalization of the content.
Given these challenges of receiving information on social media with misinformation, it will require a lot of work to dismantle the system. It will require a mix of individual changes, educational efforts, and changes on each platform as well. By providing people with media literacy education, it can help people evaluate the credibility of a source and engage more critically with information. Social media companies can also implement fact checking systems to help provide people with more accurate information. Individuals can also seek out information on their own. This information should be non-partisan for the most accurate information.
Understanding the difference between misinformation and being uninformed and recognizing social media's role in shaping politics is essential in developing healthier voting habits in an increasingly more digital world. While misinformation has impacted the political atmosphere a lot in recent years. Social media in general has impacted how elections and political figures act.