With the increasing polarization of the political landscape, we鈥檙e nearing an information overload. As students, staff, and faculty, how can we discern what messaging should influence our thoughts and vote?
Technology is the only factor common to all political messaging. But technology can be both manipulative and vulnerable to manipulation, as are humans.
In recent years we鈥檝e seen a rising trend in the way information circulates in online spaces. Political pipelines鈥攃urated messaging that sends targeted audiences down rabbit holes of misinformation鈥攈ave been an integral tool for reshaping and reinforcing public opinion.
These pipelines come to a head in echo-chambers, environments where audiences are exposed to information that confirms pre-existing beliefs. This creates both a feedback loop and group thinking that overpowers personal convictions. The anonymity within online groups increases the reactionary rhetoric present in contemporary political discourse, and further stokes irrationality and a lack of restraint.
Researchers in the late 1990s developed the Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects, or SIDE Theory for short, which explains how our convictions and identity can be erased by group-based thinking.
For example, a report by exposed an AI-rendered video featuring Russian actors destroying mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. Although the FBI later confirmed it was fake, the video had already spread like wildfire on social media, swaying public sentiment and reinforcing misguided beliefs.
Few were willing to pause before internalizing potentially incorrect information. Fewer still acknowledged that their own firmly held belief could be rooted in disinformation. Even when information is debunked, voters rarely reevaluate their convictions, especially those already isolated in carefully crafted echo-chambers.
Although research suggests that misinformation is tipped toward the right flank, that doesn鈥檛 mean it can鈥檛 happen on 鈥渢he other side.鈥� also reported on a rise in left-wing misinformation post-assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
As these narratives unfold it is becoming increasingly evident that technology鈥檚 role in shaping our opinion and votes is intricate and alarming. The modern voting battlefield doesn鈥檛 just take place in the ballot box, but through the information we consume online, often which we are unaware of.
Our votes are more than just numbers鈥攖hey represent our values and beliefs鈥攁nd as such they should be shaped by authentic exploration, not distorted by false narratives and fake news. It is crucial that we take control of our information consumption, as the future of our votes may depend on our ability to discern fact from fiction.
