How a small but vocal minority of social media users distort reality and sow division - eviltoast
Researchers at New York University have concluded that social media is not an accurate reflection of society, but more like a funhouse mirror distorted by a small but vocal minority of extreme outliers. It's a finding that has special resonance this election season. John Yang speaks with psychology professor Jay Van Bavel, one of the authors of the paper that reported the research, to learn more.

Researchers at New York University have concluded that social media is not an accurate reflection of society, but more like a funhouse mirror distorted by a small but vocal minority of extreme outliers. It’s a finding that has special resonance this election season. John Yang speaks with psychology professor Jay Van Bavel, one of the authors of the paper that reported the research, to learn more.

  • kitnaht@lemmy.world
    267·
    1 day ago

    I’ve been experiencing this on lemmy 100% They follow a playbook of sorts too. A couple of things I notice they all do:

    • Ignore any comparison to Republicans/Trump. Because doing so would point out how absolutely lop-sided the choice is.
    • Claim Genocide is the reason. Ignore all other reasons.
    • Call you Racist, Conservative, etc.
    • Claim that you insulted them in an attempt to become the victim.
    • Claim that during every presidential vote “America has been at stake if you don’t vote for [X] candidate” - ignoring the very real attempts at overthrowing our government.

    The community “leftymemes” also seems to have been made explicitly for spreading this kind of thing.

    • Randomgal@lemmy.ca
      71·
      1 day ago

      Are you me? Literally the same experience. I think it’s bots programmed in a way that follows what you described.

      • Alteon@lemmy.world
        11·
        3 hours ago

        I just blocked the whole of lemmyml and lemmy.blahaj or whatever it is, and my experience has been 100% better.

        • Randomgal@lemmy.ca
          1·
          3 hours ago

          Honestly .ml lives rent free in the head of so many people that I actually got a better experience by blocking every random who mentions how much they hate .ml in a conversation that has nothing to do with it.

          I’ve gotten to the point that I think the US government has paid shills spamming Lemmy with those comments just to make sure socialism doesn’t get discussed at all.

      • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
        31·
        1 day ago

        I just went for the heavy use of blocking those types, and my experience on here has gotten way better. Otherwise, my user experience was just a fire hose of outrage and performative pearl clutching.