Unplugging from the social media dystopia
Trolls and bots are a big problem, but so is the uncivil tone of many online subscribers
Somewhere between the Arab Spring and the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, social media has also shown its potential to divide the public.
A small item caught my eye as I hurriedly scanned the news Monday morning, trying to catch up with happenings in Montreal during the two weeks I was vacationing on a remote island with sketchy cellphone reception.
“Granby mayor signs off Facebook ‘jungle’ for good” read the headline in the Montreal Gazette print edition. Pascal Bonin, the mayor in question, told La Presse Canadienne that he was sick of spending up to 10 hours per week immersed in online debate. But more to the point, he’s had enough of the personal attacks, inflammatory remarks and character assassination that is an accepted, though unacceptable, part of being on social media these days.
While still revelling in the lingering effects of temporary disconnection myself, Bonin’s decision seems like wishful thinking. But it also speaks to larger issues about how digital technologies are profoundly reshaping modern society, from our interpersonal relationships to the very foundations of democracy.
Where once platforms like Facebook and Twitter held promise for their ability to bring people together, spread ideas, give anyone with a voice a platform to share their views and perhaps plant the seeds of democracy, their dark side has become increasingly apparent. Somewhere between the Arab Spring and the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, social media has also shown its potential to divide the public, polarize debate, perpetuate lies and expose democracy’s vulnerabilities.
The fallout continues for Facebook over how Russian trolls were able to meddle in U.S. elections, most notably in 2016, and how the company failed to protect its users from having their personal data harvested by third parties. Twitter had to purge itself of millions of fake accounts and automated bots. But even as the tech giants struggle to shore up public and investor confidence, even before Trump’s late-night tirades against everyone from our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to basketball star LeBron James became a regular staple of the news cycle, social media had begun to lose its lustre for many devotees.
From the safe distance of their smartphone and laptop screens, ordinary people make thoughtless, cruel and ignorant comments, like celebrating “one less” bike on Montreal streets after a cyclist was killed by a truck. Racists, bigots and misogynists are being emboldened to come out of the woodwork. Then there are the online mobs that hurl abuse, bringing cyberbullying to a terrifying new level.
The mayor of Granby is certainly not the first — or even the most high-profile — public figure to pull the plug. Quebec filmmaker Xavier Dolan recently shuttered his Twitter account, explaining: “I find myself drawn into hateful debates I’d rather ignore than waste time on.”
You might feel little sympathy for a celebrity who gains fame and fortune from burnishing their image on social media. And being called out by constituents may be the price of holding elected office. (There’s a hilarious scene in the TV sitcom Parks and Rec where Amy Poehler’s character notes that when she gets yelled at during a public meeting, what she hears is people caring. Loudly.) That yelling is amplified and constant now, thanks to social media. The intimacy and accountability such platforms initially afforded is being slowly eroded by the incivility of the trolls. The toxic tone is poisoning public discourse, rather than promoting it. But aside from the tenor of debate, there’s also the massive amount of time it sucks up. Most adults can’t look away from their screens for more than a few minutes without obsessively checking in, swiping, scanning. Distracted parents are raising addled kids, whom studies show may be drinking less and getting in fewer car crashes than previous generations, but appear to be experiencing higher levels of depression and suicide. The theory to explain the sudden shift in behaviour is that the first cohort of young adults to come of age with smartphones are living more of their lives online — and suffering for it. Now reports are emerging that our addiction to these devices is not so much a result of human frailty, but by design. Our enslavement to social media seems painfully obvious as I return from two weeks away. But how long before I succumb again? How long before Bonin realizes he has no choice but to log back on if he wants a future in public life? (Dolan is over on Instagram as @xavierdolan, if you’re looking for him). Unplugging completely is not an option, tempting though it may be. Social media may badly need a reboot, but it’s not going anywhere. In the meantime, all we can do is re-examine our priorities and watch our tone.