How the digital age has shaped political discussion
What's the issue?
In this increasingly digital age, more and more political conversations are happening online. Often we find ourselves involved in a discussion over issues we care deeply about with people we may not even know - and this can result in heated conflict. Screens have a distinct dehumanizing effect, and it's easier to treat people poorly when you don't have to face them in person.
Interestingly, our propensity toward online forums of discussion can also heavily impact the ways in which we communicate about politics offline - in both good and bad ways. Engaging online emboldens us to do so in person, but can we kick the bad habits we pick up from the internet?
What are the main differences in political communication online vs. offline, and how should we adjust our behavior accordingly?
How can I address this issue?
Online Communication
In a lot of ways, social media has created the perfect storm for unproductive discussion. The promise of anonymity and the lack of consequences associated with it has created an environment where combative behavior runs rampant. Two of the most commonly used platforms for political conversations, Twitter and Facebook, have certain qualities that exacerbate these issues. However, we are more than capable of overcoming them - but we first have to recognize the dangers of these mediums and actively find ways to work around them:
On social media platforms, especially those like Twitter which are catered towards short statements, we often lose important aspects of communication. Mainly, we lose the ability to fully explain our thoughts making it very easy to misunderstand what we say.
When talking online, try to be as clear with your meanings as possible. It's better to write a lot than try to jam everything into 240 characters and potentially misrepresent what you're actually trying to say.
One strategy many users employ is to type out your full thoughts on a different medium (such as the Notes app) and attach them as an image onto your tweet/post:
Sarcasm is very prevalent online and often doesn't translate. Again, be clear with your meanings.
Getting to the point quickly can cause you to come off as rude and abrupt, so intentionally use respectful and positive language as often as you can.
In general, treat every online conversation as if it was happening in person - show respect and attempt to broaden your understanding. Every person you encounter online is someone you can inform AND learn from.
Offline Communication
Don't forget that many of our political discussions happen in person. Studies have shown that some of the most important aspects of multimodal communication are non-textual elements, such as voice quality, intonation, gestures, facial expressions, posture, etc. These are aspects we learn to forget online that we must take into account during in-person conversations:
Practice active engagement - show that you're listening carefully by maintaining eye contact, nodding, acknowledging that you heard something interesting, etc.
Don't spend the conversation thinking of the next thing you want to say and waiting for the other person to stop talking so that you can get your point in. Prove that you're paying attention by internalizing what you're hearing and responding directly.
Ask meaningful questions, especially if you don't understand something. In-person conversations afford a level of explanation that we don't get online, so take advantage of it. Be patient, you will get to say what you want to say eventually.
Be careful not to raise your voice or appear confrontational. Often our visual indicators can be just as or even more aggressive than the language we use.
Why is this a good skill/strategy to learn?
Knowing how to adjust your behavior to fit your environment is a good conversational skill in any setting
Prepares you for any type of potential political discussions you can encounter
Helps you avoid the negative aspects of each sphere while enhancing the positive aspects of both
Research
Hemphill, Libby, and Roback, Andrew. “Tweet Acts: How Constituents Lobby Congress via Twitter.” Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing. ACM, 2014. 1200–1210. Web.
Joseph Kahne & Benjamin Bowyer (2018) The Political Significance of Social Media Activity and Social Networks, Political Communication, 35:3, 470-493. Print.
“Multimodal Communication in Political Speech. Shaping Minds and Social Action: International Workshop, Political Speech 2010, Rome, Italy, November 10-12, 2010, Revised Selected Papers.” Vol. 7688. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013. Web.
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