When people talk about our unraveling national unity it almost always comes down to politics: Republican Vs Democrat; Conservative Vs liberal and Right Vs left.
Nearly, 2/3rds (64%) of Americans say social media platforms such as Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) are doing more to divide America and Americans than bring it together, according to an NBC News poll released at the weekend.
And just 27% say that they do more to bring the country together.
Other results from the survey show the following:
- When this Question was last asked in March 2 yrs ago, 57% said social media platforms do more to divide the nation, while 35% said they do more to unite.
- In the latest poll, those saying the platforms do more to divide the US includes a majorities of Republicans (77%), Independents (65%) and Democrats (54%).
- Other groups saying social media does more to divide the nation are whites (70%), Latinos (56%), seniors (71%) and young adults (61%).
- Black respondents were split on the question, with 42% saying the platforms are more divisive and 40% saying they are more unifying.
- Despite these feelings overall towards social media, 66% say they use it once a day or more, while 33% do not, figures which are essentially unchanged from when the same question was asked in Ys 2018 and 2019.
- Among daily social media users, 49% say social media platforms make their lives better, while 37% say they make them worse.
- Democrats, women and college graduates are more likely to say that social media make their lives better, while Republicans, men and those without college degrees are more likely to say the opposite.
- 54% of parents say that, during the VirusCasedemic, the time their children have spent on computer screens, phones, tablets and televisions has gone up, 38% say it has stayed the same, and 4% say it has gone down.
- Among those parents who said their children’s screen time has gone up during the chaos, the average increase was 154 mins per day.
- When talking about their own screen time, 43% of respondents say it has increased during the frame, 49% say it has remained the same, and 8% say it has gone down.
The poll was carried out between 17-20 April, with the margin of error for the 1,000 adult respondents at +/1 3.1 percentage points. The margin of error for the 655 adults who use social media daily is +/ 3.8 percentage points, while for the 238 parents with children under the age of 18 it is +/ 6.4 percentage points.
“What the Federal Government can not understand is that Social Media can not be controlled for its has no geographical boundaries due to its airway transmittal technology. However, it has become so monopolistic it must be defused of its “gospel” grip on people. Like what was done to the general media years ago, however, it can and should be broken up, in my opinion, into much smaller components to reduce its singular influence. This, the Government once did in the telephone/communications industry for, unlike other industries, it had at that time no accountability.Â
“Today, Social Media reminds me of the days of William Randolph Hearst. He is credited single-handled of causing the Spanish American War. Let’s hope that Social Media will not repeat such an outcome. We called it then Yellow Journalism where sensationalist headlines played off tensions between Spain and the United States in a time when raucous media found a voice.
“Further, postings on social media must also be brought under legal accountability for people can say anything – undocumented statements on almost any thing or any people. Further, at their whim, they can sanction anyone which is totally against our Constitution and the provision of free speech. That is absolutely wrong and highly destructive to us as Americans and the World.
Enforceable legislation must be brought before the United Nations and the World Court.
“Unfortunately, Media itself has become too one sided which is totally the opposite of how us, the older generation, experienced in our younger years. In my opinion, social Media should learn how to be constructive instead of destructive, too often blowing stories out of proportion to the detriment of their viewership.Â
“Congress please pay attention here. Do something constructive and here’s a good starting point! Perhaps, they will right Social Media and hopefully so before it goes totally out-of-control which it is on the ebb of doing,” says contributing LTN economist and media specialist Bruce WD Barren.
Have a healthy day, Keep the Faith!
