Politics play a significant role in a country’s stability. Majorly, politics affect both social and economic stability because it is always associated with the activities of governance of a state where there exist several political parties. A clear example is the US Democrats and Republicans. In some cases, the two political divides have their stance, ideologies attitude and opinion they believe in. Illustratively, when the ideologies and the political attitudes are in extreme and parties take a hard stand with sharp divisions; it is viewed as political polarization. Distinctively there are two separate types of polarization; that is elite polarization and popular political polarization. Elite polarization occurs between the elected members of the party in government against elected members of another party. Popular polarization occurs where the electorates and general public take a divergent and extreme stance against each other. Various factors cause polarization; such include the media and the public itself. It is notable that media and especially social media is to be blamed for increased political polarization.
Considerably, political scientists and scholars have attempted to pinpoint the various causes of political polarization and why there are wide and sharp divisions between the political parties in a country like the United States. however, there are no conclusive answers as to what are the ultimate reasons of polarization; notably, it is evident that there exist the liberals and the conservatives (Democrats and Republicans) who have at all times been having a divergent political stand and ideology since time immemorial. To understand this phenomenon better, it is discernible to address the same in relation to social media. The media play a significant role in increasing polarization. Firstly, unlike watching television, listening to a radio and reading print media materials, social media is readily available on phone, Ipads, computers and other gadgets. The electorate has the choice to read and take what they want from cites such as Facebook and Twitter. Statistics indicate that over 80% percent of the United States population has access to either one or two handles or social media accounts. Noteworthy, a party has the liberty to control what to feed his/her mind with, and it is also evident that unlike print media, social media content is not regulated.
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Stemming from the above, it also evident that both twitter and Facebook are the most popular social media sites, Facebook alone boast of over one billion visitors in one month. Twitter, on the other hand, indicates a million tweets in a day. The study has also indicated that these sites are always full of information on emerging news, current world affairs and politics, sports and majorly entertainment depending on how one ascribes and subscribes. Overtly, in the American context, it is notable that individuals who identify themselves with the liberals will concentrate more on the liberal’s information and news while the conservatives will do the same according to their ideologies. Consequentially this is what causes the increased polarization. Ostensibly, it is also notable that however much polarization was in place immediately after the end of the world wars among the several countries such as America, the vice of political polarization has been on the increase since the discovery of the internet. Affordable cheap internet and accessibility to webs and other social media make access to information (political) and global news affordable and easy. Resulting effects is polarization.
In the same breath, it is also evident that before the advent of the internet and social media in general, the ideological gap, and divergence opinions between the political divides existed. This was the typical co existent between the Democrats and the Republicans. However considerably, it is notable that the divergent ideologies and the extreme hard political stands and opinions have been at all on the rising meter since the age of social media. This is significant as research conducted by Eytan Bakshy and Solomon Messing who are refurbished data scientists in the US indicate that polarization rapidly increased from 1994 to date. He indicates that almost over 70% of individuals have internet access and always read and watch the news on social media. The increase in polarization occurred between the period when social media components and outlets were launched especially in 2004 and 2006 when Facebook and Twitter were officially launched. Social media is mainly blamed for increase polarization because it changed the aspects of receiving and consuming news by individuals referred to as ‘echo chamber effect.' This is the effect where individuals will access the information they associate with and ignore or recent information that is not in line with their ideologies.
On the other hand, it is also notable that YouTube as a worldwide social media outlet also plays a crucial role and contribution to the increased political polarization. Notably, YouTube plays on the same interface as any other social media outlet. This site is visited a million times. In a day, part of entertainment and advertising, there are always news and stories that pop up suggesting to a viewer to read or watch the content about people or politics. A study conducted by Gracia David a renowned political scientist and analyst in the US indicate that YouTube as a social media site significantly contributes to the polarization of the people visit the site frequently . Illustratively, it is a common phenomenon that an individual owning an internet accessing gadget will access YouTube, while at it is more likely that he/she will be introduced to some trending information/news touching on political ideologies. Considerably, this how polarization is increased.
However critically thinking, it is also noteworthy to realize that social media should not be solely blamed for increasing political polarization nor be used as a scapegoat. It is also important to note that human beings are rational and tend to choose what they want to consume in terms of information or news from social media. Secondly, it is important to note that polarization was in existence even before the advent of social media, and similarly, polarizations also exists in places such as Korea where social media itself is limited. Thirdly, in American contexts data from the American National Election Studies indicate that social media is a phenomenon that is widely used by the millennial. This data also indicates that majority of older members of the society rarely use social media but indicate to be the most polarized lot. Therefore this being the case, it is arguably to ascertain the effect of social media. In this regard, it is justifiable to state that media should be partially blamed.
In conclusion, it is apparent and more evident that social media has become the easiest way to access information, emerging world affairs news, entertainment among others. This phenomenon being the case, it is also evident that the citizenry and the electorates get information regarding politics on the ideologies they ascribe to generally. Social media is not an ancient factor; it is understandable that before its advent, extreme ideological differences existed. However, its introduction and accessibility have significantly influenced political relations among the people. Consequentially has become the root cause of political polarization. However many social media may be exempted from the blame for increasing the effects of political polarization, it is notable that it significantly contributes to and increases polarization in all aspects.
References
Bakshy, Eytan, Solomon Messing, and Lada A. Adamic. “Exposure to Ideologically Diverse News and Opinion on Facebook.” Science vol. 348, no. 6239 (2015): 1130–1132.
Barberá, Pablo. "How Social Media Reduces Mass Political Polarization. Evidence from Germany, Spain, and the US." Job Market Paper, New York University 46 (2014). 23-53
Conover, Michael, Jacob Ratkiewicz, Matthew R. Francisco, Bruno Gonçalves, Filippo Menczer, and Alessandro Flammini. "Political Polarization on Twitter." ICWSM 133 (2014): 89-96.
Garcia, David et al. “Political Polarization and Popularity in Online Participatory Media: An Integrated Approach.” Proceedings of the First Edition Workshop on Politics, Elections and Data. New York, NY, USA. ACM Digital Library, 2017. 3-15
Sunstein, Cass R. # Republic: Divided democracy in the age of social media . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, (2018). 3-36.
