Social Media and it’s Negative Impact

Social media and other news platforms are driving the divide in America

Andrew Reice, Student Writer

Sometimes it’s very hard to imagine how things were thirty years ago. No computers, cell phones, or any social media. Today Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other platforms dominate peoples free time and are also places where opinions can be expressed. With these platforms around, anyone in the world can voice their opinions on any given topic. These comments or posts may not have any factual information with any evidence, but it’s out there and people can see it. The biggest problem with social media and websites, is that people will believe what they want to hear. Politically, this is really dangerous because there could be a story or someone posts a comment that could be completely filled with false information, but if that reader believes what they’re reading, chances are they will believe it and see no problem.

These sites have been able to let misinformation spread all over the internet. This has created a society where people can’t take in others opinions. According to statisita.com in 2017, over 60 percent of the viewers of cnn were democrats and with fox it’s similar just with republicans instead. There’s a reason behind that, being that people want to have their ideas and beliefs confirmed, even though they may not be accurate. We are living in a toxic culture that is becoming more divided. The solution to this problem is for everyone to listen to others’ opinions and not just disagree because they’re a democrat or republican, and social media and other websites is the biggest obstacle.