SEWARD: On election stress
I currently intern for Assemblywoman Tennille McCoy of the 14th Legislative District, who happens to use Microsoft Edge. I only mention this because every time I open a new tab on the browser, I am greeted with conflicting articles about the election, courtesy of Microsoft Network.
Articles include speculation on who is going to take the seven swing states, why this piece of news spells doom for Vice President Kamala Harris, why former President Donald J. Trump is going to lose and an assortment of "the most accurate" polls that tell me nothing at all.
A new age of media, despite the benefit of keeping up-to-date with the election cycle, has also added a new stressor, with the American Psychological Association quoting, "(77 percent of adults see) the future of our nation as a significant source of stress" with "56 percent (saying) they believe the 2024 presidential election could be the end of democracy in the US."
To say the U.S. is divided would be a major understatement. Ian Bremmer, a foreign affairs columnist at Time, argues that "there is no advanced industrial democracy in the world more politically divided, or politically dysfunctional, than the U.S. today."
A 2014 Pew Research Center study proves Bremmer's point, stating that "in each party, the share with a highly negative view of the opposing party has more than doubled since 1994," with divisions only increasing since Trump's election in 2016.
Any causal analysis of this division needs to incorporate many factors. Legislative failures, the lingering and not-so-subtle effects of white supremacy, capitalism and overall frustration with the government only account for a small percentage of the smorgasbord that is the widespread phenomenon of polarization in the U.S.
A major component is social media and advertising culture. Bremmer argues that "we've seen the fracturing much quicker with social media, but the truly disruptive element tech companies have introduced is algorithms — actively designed to capture more ad revenues and attention."
This makes sense. Advertisements are solely created to attract new customers to their brand, which can lead to outrageous attempts at gaining attention from potential consumers, such as hiring name-brand celebrities. Look at the fake mobile game "Last War Survival," somehow getting Antony Starr to deliver bizarre advertisement reads just because he plays Homelander in "The Boys."
Advertisements and social media have algorithmic natures designed to "sustain engagement." You liked a post? Here are twenty more, along with a related product that will totally help your everyday life. Before long, you are twenty feet deep into a rabbit hole without knowing how you got there.
Normally, the rabbit hole is safe. Yet, with YouTube having 2.7 billion users and Instagram having 1.4 billion users worldwide, chances are certain that rabbit holes are inevitably political.
It is especially certain in this election cycle, which has been so hotly debated and discussed over the last few months. Naturally, to attract more attention, companies and influencers rely on outrageous attempts to gain attention, which has led to a subsection of creators spouting more and more extreme views, hoping to latch on to an audience craving change. This change has come — these views being spouted have led to further fragmentations and incisions into an already divided country.
Division is natural. Not everyone will think the same, otherwise this would be a dystopia like "1984," and nobody wants that. But our division has become so extreme that massive groups of people think the other side will ruin the country, hence the stress.
There is no golden solution to this stress. Ignoring it is impossible and unwise. The election cannot be muted. Despite the appeal that muting the election has, being well-educated and stressed is better than being ignorant and stressed because the problem will still linger despite your efforts.
There are ways to mediate this stress. Online rabbit holes, tempting as they may be, are not healthy for the rational mind. Actively going out of your way to seek the other side's opinion just to mock them will not do you or your stress any favors.
All one needs to do is take a step away from social media, for too much information can drown us, a storm of stress sinking our already broken ship. Get off your phone. Get off your computer. Keep yourself educated and informed, but do not drown yourself or let yourself get lost. This shall pass.
Samuel Seward is a senior at the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in political science and minoring in English. Seward’s column, “Dead Air,” runs on alternate Mondays.
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