From culture wars to misinformation: why social media is not the problem

Thu 15 February 2024

Selwyn College

With digital culture and myriad forms of social media, we can now share more information and opinions more widely than ever before. Unlike the era of mass media, today every individual has a personalised news channel – edited by their own choices, social network and algorithms – that shapes what they want to see next. But many worry that while our facility to communicate has improved, productive exchanges of ideas have diminished, as has the potential to develop a shared worldview or even shared reality. What’s more, new identity-driven forms of polarisation, online harms and fake news have fuelled fears that the very technologies that transformed communications are responsible for our descent into echo chambers, toxic filter bubbles or attention traps.

But to what extent is new technology really the problem? After all, just over a decade ago, social media was celebrated for its power to share ideas and drive political change in the Arab Spring. In this talk followed by open discussion, Timandra Harkness explores both the new digital technologies and the new identity-driven forms of culture and politics, and asks: how did we get here, why does it matter and where do we go from here?

The panel will be chaired by Roger Mosey, the master of Selwyn College. We will be inviting questions from audiences both online and in-person.

Cost: 0