Imagined with DALL-E

Social media tribalism— things fell apart

Is this the end of social media as we know it?

Civility is not saying negative or harsh things. It is not the absence of critical analysis. It is the manner in which we are sharing this territorial freedom of political discussion. If our discourse is yelled and screamed and interrupted and patronized, that’s uncivil. — Richard Dreyfuss.

While performing the routine chores of daily life, with the television humming in the background, I overheard a phrase that lingered in my mind for days: “Social media is no different; people gravitate toward those like themselves — their tribe, so to speak.” At the time, I was merely tidying up as my dog watched curiously, but the words resonated deeply, especially in the context of U.S. elections where social media tribalism starkly emerges, often fostering a breakdown in genuine communication.

Up until recently, I had passively allowed social media algorithms to manipulate and steer my online experience. Social media networks operate on sophisticated algorithms and complex computations that automatically curate the content we see, shaping and sometimes distorting…