Drew Spence (George Washington University) on American Values
March 28, 2012
The paradox of Facebook is that the website which is supposed to be able to connect you with anyone around the world can actually make you feel rather isolated.
While new media technologies would appear to be rather democratizing, capable of elevating the voices of average individuals high enough so that they may speak to power. However, the truth is that new media has been less egalitarian that we may have imagined or hoped. Technology is limiting the variety of information and messages we are exposed to and the result is that our political sphere is becoming highly polarized.
The rise of direct targeting through email listservs means that campaigns try as much as possible to use new media tools to collect information about potential voters and use this information to disseminate individually-tailored messages. This phenomenon was termed in 2006 by Professor Phillip Howard to be narrowcasting and it continues to be prevalent in political communication today.
This is worrisome when we consider that a strong American system of communication has been fundamental to creating our shared set of values. Deliberative democracy has been dependent upon a communications system that could foster an exchange of ideas between different individuals who share the common connection of being part of American society. Democratic political life relies on an exchange of information among people of differing ideological perspectives.
Online information technologies have every potential to strengthen deliberative ideals, but it does not appear that they are being used in such a fashion. In the campaign process, candidates tend not to place interactive features such as “discussion areas” on their websites, eliminating the possibility of candidates and users engaging in a dialogue about political issues. Even on Facebook and Twitter, where this sort of direct dialogue is possible, there is very little interactivity. In testing for a research project, I found that only 2% of Facebook comments posted asked U.S. Senate candidates questions about political issues in the 2012 election.
Our democracy is dependent on a shared set of ideals and a vibrant communication system that can support them. Only when our media systems allow us to debate and engage with one another are we able to truly realize that we are greater by what unites us than what divides us.
In fact, it could be our media itself that is dividing us.
Twitter: @drew_spence
The rise of direct targeting through email listservs means that campaigns try as much as possible to use new media tools to collect information about potential voters and use this information to disseminate individually-tailored messages. This phenomenon was termed in 2006 by Professor Phillip Howard to be narrowcasting and it continues to be prevalent in political communication today.
This is worrisome when we consider that a strong American system of communication has been fundamental to creating our shared set of values. Deliberative democracy has been dependent upon a communications system that could foster an exchange of ideas between different individuals who share the common connection of being part of American society. Democratic political life relies on an exchange of information among people of differing ideological perspectives.
Online information technologies have every potential to strengthen deliberative ideals, but it does not appear that they are being used in such a fashion. In the campaign process, candidates tend not to place interactive features such as “discussion areas” on their websites, eliminating the possibility of candidates and users engaging in a dialogue about political issues. Even on Facebook and Twitter, where this sort of direct dialogue is possible, there is very little interactivity. In testing for a research project, I found that only 2% of Facebook comments posted asked U.S. Senate candidates questions about political issues in the 2012 election.
Our democracy is dependent on a shared set of ideals and a vibrant communication system that can support them. Only when our media systems allow us to debate and engage with one another are we able to truly realize that we are greater by what unites us than what divides us.
In fact, it could be our media itself that is dividing us.
Twitter: @drew_spence
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