By Joe Arney
Illustrations by Dana Heimes
Deepfakes. Distrust. Data manipulation.
Is it any wonder American democracy feels like it has reached such a dangerous tipping point?
As our public squares have emptied of reasoned discussion, and our social media feeds have filled with vitriol, viciousness and villainy, weâve found ourselves increasingly isolated and unable to escape our echo chambers. And while itâs easy to blame social media, adtech platforms or the news, itâs the way these forces overlap and feed off each other thatâs put us in this mess.
Itâs an important problem to confront as we close in on a consequential election, but the issue is bigger than just what happens this November, or whether you identify with one party or another. Fortunately, the College of Media, Communication and Information was designed for just these kinds of challenges, where a multidisciplinary approach is needed to frame, address and solve increasingly complex problems.
âDemocracy is not just about what happens in this election,â said Nathan Schneider, an assistant professor of media studies and an expert in the design and governance of the internet. âItâs a much longer story, and through all the threats weâve seen, Iâve taken hope from focusing my attention on advancing democracy, rather than just defending it.â
We spoke to Schneider and other CMCI experts in journalism, information science, media studies, advertising and communication to understand the scope of the challenges. And we asked one big question of each in order to help us make sense of this moment in history, understand how we got here andâmaybeâfind some faith in the future.