Thin Yadnr @tmy24@uakron.edu
Partisanship is the strong adherence to a political party, accompanied by a negative view of the opposing party. Political polarization is the act of separation through extreme ideologies. In recent years, social media has become a big part of polarization. This is due to echo chambers and filter bubbles. The way information is exposed to an individual contributes to how their opinions are formed in many different ways. People are more likely to seek out information that reinforces their pre-existing beliefs. Through an algorithm on social media platforms, people have limited exposure to different perspectives.
Social media can be dangerous to individuals' understanding of the world around them. Due to misinformation and filtered news, this is a big problem in election processes, global conflict, and other political matters. We can see this through Supreme Court cases on abortion. During this time, the media exploited many different statistics and science to boost their opinions. This reinforced the divide between political views, making it hard to find common ground. Although it is important to spread awareness, it can become dangerous when individuals can only see one perspective on a conflict.
Gathering anecdotes and narratives through the media can lack credibility. It is hard to know what statistics and stories are credible on platforms. Misleading content, based narratives, and inaccurate information influence our attitudes negatively. This can connect certain ideologies to political parties, limiting people to their respective parties. With the lack of intention to understand different perspectives and algorithms supporting this, it’s hard to open our minds.
Political polarization has divided this country significantly, and it has become impossible for Democrats and Republicans to find a common ground. It is important to understand this and to seek out unbiased information.