Over the past decade, America has experienced crippling polarization in nearly all aspects of life. With beliefs and politics becoming an increasingly prominent part of people’s everyday lives, we’ve suffered an extreme divide within American society. Religious, ethnic, and political polarization can be traced back centuries, it isn’t a new concept and will be a part of our lives for decades to come, but why does it feel more severe right now?

The difference between divides a few decades ago compared to those of the present day is the media. The rise of the internet has provided us with an abundance of information, so much information that it’s nearly impossible to sort through the four hundred thousand results that pop up from a simple google search.

The problem with relying on the internet for information is that it is a highly flawed source of knowledge. This is something most of us know. Don’t believe everything you hear on the internet they say, but despite this, it seems that many of us aren’t listening to our own advice.

In a US study of news consumers, it was reported that nearly 38% of them unknowingly shared misinformation or fake news on social media. That means nearly a third of Americans may be believing misinformation and sharing it with others. 

“I think a lot of people blindly believe what they see on the internet. You hear about people going down extremist pipelines and unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation to be found there. I think I saw something that says misinformation on the internet travels three times faster than real-world news,” said Anjali George (12).

Social media is a tool to help unite people, allowing users to find like-minded people with the same interests, and creating lasting connections. However, with the way social media algorithms work, you’re most often only given content that the app feels you will enjoy. This leaves many people in a bubble, keeping them disconnected from the opinions and thoughts of others.

As uniting as social media can be, it seems that in America it has become a way to isolate people. A study by the Pew Research Center found that 67% of Americans think that social media has a negative social and political impact compared to a median of 35% in other countries. People are contained to their online community of like-minded people, giving many the illusion that their thoughts and opinions are correct and the norm.

This creates a mob mentality of sorts, with it becoming an “us against them” thought process in many cases. This makes the spread of misinformation that much easier, with people grasping onto anything that supports their way of thinking and denounces others. People no longer care about their information being truthful as long as what they’re seeing means that other people are incorrect.

This makes for a very segregated society and outlook on the world. Many of us aren’t fact-checking anymore and don’t even care.

The rise of social media apps like  X, Facebook, and Instagram have made minsinformation commonplace in our everyday lives.  The fact checking systems on these apps are flawed and don’t accurately alert people to false information, leaving users to detect it for themselves.

Over the past couple years, our country has experienced an unprecedented amount of false information both in our news sources and online.  The number of false articles and posts circulating  all across the internet makes many wonder, are we getting dumber? 

Not being able to discern false information from reality is a concerning norm for many Americans regularly using social media. Anyone is susceptible, so it’s important to look out for  the warning signs of misinformation on these social platforms.  

Some large tell-tale signs of false information are misspelled words, excessive or unneeded usage of all caps, poor grammar, as well as unnecessary exclamation points. A good way to protect yourself from falling for misinformation is through fact-checking. Although it can be time consuming depending on the topic, checking your facts before retelling or reposting something on social media can lessen the spread of  fake news. 

Even though it sounds obvious, we as Americans need to take it into our own hands to not trust everything we see on the internet. Our country is more divided than ever, and the spread of propaganda by a multitude of groups is pinning us against each other.  By using some of the easily accessible resources we have at hand, we can slow down the spread of false information and hopefully come one step closer to healing as a country.