Mocial Sedia

I read “Social Media is Corroding Our Democracy”, an editorial on Washington Monthly’s blog. Chayenne Polimedio wrote it. She writes about integrating “orchestrated chance encounters” and “unchosen experiences” into social media to guide people out of their bubbles. These ideas are pulled from Cass R. Sunstein’s #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media. The intended audience would be general: anyone who uses social media. Polimedio lives in D.C. and is currently a research associate in the Political Reform program at New America (think tank/civic enterprise). She has a B.A. in Political Science and Government from Purdue University. The article’s title is more of an attention grabber than a preview of the contents. Polimedio relies heavily on Sunstein’s work. One might mistake the article for a book review. The author is clearly anti-echo chambers. She acknowledges that tackling them would easily infringe upon freedom of speech, though. She is simply adding to an already open discussion on the effects of social media/ tech on democracy. She doesn’t try to answer any questions definitively, but suggests that we at least try to strike a balance. I think Polimedio set an approachable tone, one that wouldn’t invoke defensiveness on either party side. Her job is to bridge differing ideas, promote tolerance, and depend on accurate information. She notes that adding opposing views into people’s newsfeeds or timeline or stream might not change anyone’s behavior. The potential if it did is quite enticing, and probably why she wrote the article: to offer a possible solution to biased/one-sided political views.