How did we all get so stupid?
The Biblical story of the Tower of Babel is the best metaphor for what happened in the 2010s and the “fractured” countries we now inhabit, says Jonathan Haidt. “Something went terribly wrong, very suddenly. We are disoriented, unable to speak the same language or recognise the same truth. We are cut off from one another and from the past.” What went wrong?
The early internet of the 1990s and then the rise of social media promised to facilitate social cooperation on a scale never before imaginable. This was widely believed to be a boon for democracy. The high point of “techno-democratic optimism” came in 2011, when the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement seemed to mark the beginning of a new world. Then came the “like” function.
Social scientists have identified at least three major forces that collectively bind successful democracies together: social capital (extensive social networks with high levels of trust); strong institutions; and shared stories. Social media has “weakened all three”.
How “like” divided us
In their early incarnations, sites such as Facebook were relatively harmless. They helped people maintain social ties. Gradually, however, users became ever more comfortable sharing intimate details of their lives with strangers and corporations. They started “putting on performances” and “managing their personal brand”. Then changes to the technology, which used algorithms to determine what you see in your timeline, and the introduction of “like” and “share” and “retweet” buttons, allowed the socialmedia platforms to determine what best “engaged” its users. Posts that triggered emotions – especially anger at “outgroups” – were amplified. The dynamics changed and social media became a new kind of game, one that “encouraged dishonesty and mob dynamics”.
Social media then unleashed precisely the kind of passions that institutions were designed to calm and tame. It has made us more angry, trivial, frivolous, prone to factionalism and extremes and violence, and more depressed and anxious.
It has chipped away at trust and made us more stupid. The fracturing of society that results mean we no longer have shared stories. We now know, in short, what it is like to live in the aftermath of Babel. These are “times of confusion and loss” – but also of opportunity. What above all is needed are voluntary organisations to rebuild trust and friendships across the political divide. “We must change ourselves and our communities… it is a time to reflect, listen and build.”