Lynch's Negative Impact On Social Media

On social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, individuals can follow news sources, organizations, and politicians who share their political views. Individuals can also construct a feed filled with news stories that support, rather than challenge, their current points of view, as well as ignore the views that fail to align with theirs. More liberal individuals may choose to follow news sources like the New York Times and Democratic politicians, while more conservative individuals may choose to follow media sources like Fox News and Republican politicians. Has this personalization aspect of the Internet negatively impacted our ability to engage in intellectually-stimulating discussions with those at the opposite end of the political spectrum?

The Internet is, from his point of view, hindering our ability to truly "know" without the help of Google. Moreover, he insists that the Internet is rendering people unable to formulate their own viewpoints, as they depend upon search engines to find information which confirms their opinions. Lynch himself writes "our ability to access so much information just makes it easier than ever to follow our hardwired tendencies to make the facts fit what we already think" (Lynch 56). However, what he fails to recognize is that the Internet is just another medium throughout the course of technological history that has allowed for individuals to research information to either confirm their own views or to shut down the views of others. Before the Internet, individuals would visit their local libraries and explore the vast array of books related to their subject of interest. Today, individuals still use other forms of media, such as television, to watch shows in which the host holds the same opinions as the viewer. I think that Lynch is mistaken because he does not adequately take into account the other mediums that individuals utilize to find information that confirms their own preconceptions and opinions. Increased political and social polarization in the United States is not simply a product of social media; rather, increased polarization is also a result of structural changes in American government and

However, a sample size of one is not sufficient to draw a conclusion by any means. The research surrounding this issue would contradict both my own and Lynch's point of view. A March 2017 study conducted by Stanford University PhD student Levi Boxell, Stanford University professor Matthew Gentzkow, and Brown University professor Jesse M. Shapiro found that, contrary to their hypothesis, the Internet is not the key driver of increasing political polarization (Boxell, Gentzkow, & Shapiro). In fact, the scholars suggest that the increase in polarization is biggest for the demographic groups that were the least likely to use social media and the Internet (Boxell, Gentzkow, & Shapiro). The researchers found that Americans who are older than 75 experienced the largest "ideological divergence" of all the age groups during the time period the researchers examined (1996 to 2012) (Oremus). However, as of 2012, a mere 20 percent of Americans older than 75 reported using social media. On the other hand, 80 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 39 reported using social media. This age group was barely more polarized in 2012 than it was in 1996, before the days of Twitter and Facebook (Oremus). Perhaps those who use social media and the Internet