The presidential race has experienced some dramatic changes in the past two months with a promise of more to come. This excitement has flooded social media, as the decision for Harris to run for the Democratic party has pulled some swing voters and those who were on the fence about Biden toward the vice president. It has also fired up some Trump supporters to call foul play on the sudden switch. At the same time, TikTok and other forms of social media have been alight with praise and advertisements for the Harris-Walz campaign. The switch from a mostly apathetic attempt from both parties to advertise on social media to the advertising-choked TikTok is astronomical. The tone of the election has shifted entirely due to these decisions.
Social media is a huge way people engage with the election, from watching videos supporting current candidates to understanding events happening in the race and politics. One could say social media is the hub of communicating one’s political opinions, and, to be honest, it is super overwhelming. I want to be clear that the ability to share one’s political beliefs in a space that allows everyone to do so is a fantastic privilege. However, this privilege does come with some drawbacks.
While this can seem very plain, something people fail to address often is that the internet tends to ramp up intense beliefs. Anyone who has studied algorithms knows that they push content you like in your direction, but fewer people recognize how algorithms slowly increase how extreme this content is. For example, during the summer, I liked some content involving the video game “Overwatch 2.” Naturally, more and more content related to the game began to flood my feed, but I also noticed a rise in content bashing female and POC gamers. I was extremely disgusted due to the amount that appeared from a few likes. The original video was simply about some strategies to use in the game, so seeing that single like escalate into a whole ideology was extremely concerning.
These algorithmic tendencies encourage the rise of “alpha male” content creators like Andrew Tate. Their content starts fairly innocently with them talking about diet and mindset changes but eventually becomes a full-blown attack on certain minority groups. These tactics target those unsure of their worldview to try and push them towards this kind of thinking. The phenomenon that is being displayed is because the algorithm is doing what it is designed to do — feed you more of the content you enjoy. It creates an echo chamber of other people who enjoy the same content. When these echo chambers occur, the people inside them get more radical due to the discussion being among peers who do not fear the rejection of ideas.
Politics, as anyone who has been on the internet for an extended period will tell you, is one of the topics that has a lot of echo chambers. With the election coming up, they are getting louder as well. Many people use the internet as a device to push these echoed beliefs onto others — a disingenuous tactic that only reduces the actual amount of unique discussion we can have about politics online and even in person.
By shaming and being rude and hateful to other people on either end of the political spectrum, this behavior only increases the number of harmful echo chambers that occur due to people feeling as though their ideas are not valued or heard by others. While a productive debate or defense of ideas should be encouraged, telling others that their political ideas make them an enemy is perilous. I urge people to remember that before making claims politically. Talking about whole groups in absolutes only feeds this cycle.
Iowa is about to become a hub of political friction very soon. My advice during the election is to remember that other people are human. As people with their own lives and biases, they are not always going to align with you morally and politically. While you don’t have to be in exact agreement with them, we also cannot function as a society if we fear the other half of the society. So remember, especially around campus, treating those who disagree with you respectfully and kindly is the only way to make this country work better, especially during election season.
