Social media lifts the veil on our opinions
Best Columns: Britain
The rise of social media has polarised society by herding us into self-reinforcing echo chambers. That’s the conventional wisdom these days, say Chris Bullivant. But it’s not true. The reality is that Britain has always been full of people with strong and diametrically-opposed opinions – we just weren’t so aware of it before. We voiced our political opinions largely behind closed doors and in like-minded circles. We read whichever newspaper accorded most closely with our world view. Vehement, polarised arguments only broke out in parliamentary debate or street demonstrations, or in letters exchanged in the press. Until the likes of Twitter came along, we seldom had to contend with our fellow citizens’ “awkward political views”. We might glimpse them through a car bumper sticker or a poster in the window, or get a nasty shock at election time; but “once your next-door neighbour went home and closed their front door, their opinions were held in private.” Social media has lifted this veil of secrecy. The effect has not been to “ghettoise the electorate, but rather to introduce the electorate to each other.”
