Is Social Media to Blame for our Post-Truth World?

Our world continues to be constructed with post-truths — a collaboration of subjective opinions that previously, and continue to, lead to unity and separation. With an increased usage of social media and fearlessness to post content online from behind a screen, society is experiencing a greater exposure to subjectivity than objectivity. The question is: is social media to blame for our post-truth world?

First, let’s take a look at social media. It’s extremely accessible, and allows for world-wide connectivity, therefore neglecting the concept of distance. It also allows people to especially be more vocal about what they believe in, and they often post their own opinions. However, with multiple perspectives being posted, contradictions often occur and can lead to heated discussions. Too many insults have been tossed around on social media that have gone unregulated.

Personally, I have seen many arguments that take place — sometimes because people aren’t fully informed about a particular situation and are creating opinions on what may be false. However, both sides of the discussion create new points that I may have missed or not been aware of in the past, which allows me to become more ‘woke’ and informed about the world we live in. This is especially important to me because until a few years ago, I was so confined in my own bubble of safety and security that I missed the realities of the world we lived in.

Let’s take a look at the most recent example of post-truth that took the world by storm: the US Presidency Election.

Countless thoughts and opinions were posted on social media — people supporting Donald Trump, and others supporting Hillary Clinton. There’s no question that Hillary was qualified for this position — she has years of experience working in such a high-level of government, was previously the First Lady herself, and had the confidence in herself to make a systemic change that would result in her being the first POTUS that was a woman.

However, a social media scandal that she was involved in a few years ago caught up with her, and ultimately contributed to her loss in the election. She had previously sent emails that resulted in investigations from authorities such as the FBI, and was ultimately cleared of everything. Trump still used this opportunity to sabotage her image in the election, and although she had the popular vote with over 3 million votes more, the voting system begged to differ. This is a clear example of how social media caught up with Hillary, and caused Trump to formulate his own opinions. However, he wasn’t fully aware of the entirety of the situation as, from my own recollection, he had never mentioned the fact she was cleared of the situation.

This, alone, reflects the problem with post-truth. There are too many subjective opinions, and not enough objective facts to support them.

So, do I think social media is to blame for the post-truth world? No. Do I think it plays a role in it? Absolutely.

I believe that social media isn’t entirely to blame for the post-truth world because of the fact post-truth has always existed. People always had the opportunity to formulate their own opinions and had various ways to express it — through written or oral communication. However, these methods of expressing their own opinions were very limited and would reach a specific group of people unless published on a large media platform.

Social media creates a new platform for people to post their own opinions and thoughts. Because social media has greater accessibility and less regulation, more people are able to access these opinions. So while I believe that social media plays a role in emphasizing post-truth, I don’t think it’s responsibly for the entirety of it. I simply believe it provides another platform and emphasizes post-truth.