Should You Really Be Posting Your Thoughts About Politics on Social Media For the Whole World to See?
A generation ago, the conventional wisdom was that there were simply some things you didn’t talk about in public. You didn’t talk about your personal finances. You didn’t talk about your personal health problems. And, for sure, you didn’t talk about politics.
But social media has completely upended that logic. People talk about everything and anything on social media these days, and unfortunately, that includes a lot of politics. In some cases, posting about politics on social media has led to users losing friends, colleagues, and even members of their close family. Politics is just too polarizing these days.
Does social media help or hurt democracy?
And that leads to an interesting question: Does social media actually help or hurt democracy? If you had asked that question a decade ago, the clear, unanimous response would have been “help.” But, flash forward to 2025, and the answer is no longer so clear.
Social media is now blamed for misinformation and disinformation. It essentially gives a bullhorn to anyone with a voice, and allows them to have their thoughts amplified across the internet. Posting extreme forms of political content on social media is now an accepted form of clickbait, guaranteed to get you plenty of clicks, likes, and shares.
The goal is engagement, so content needs to be as outrageous as possible. Instead of voicing concerns on wonky issues, go for the jugular and call for political opponents to be investigated, subpoenaed, or arrested. That’ll get you clicks. If you’re lucky enough, your viral posts will come to the attention of top political officials, and they will declare you an influencer. Maybe you’ll even be invited to the White House one day.
Politics and the city
With that in mind, there might be a better forum for political discussion than social media. As entertainment celebrity Sarah Jessica Parker recently pointed out, maybe it’s time to hold our really important political conversations somewhere else. After all, on social media, the only thing that’s possible is a very superficial discussion of a topic, issue, or event.
Notably, we don’t even know which direction she’s leaning in the current mayoral election in New York City. If you ask AI, it will tell you that “her views are not currently known.” But isn’t it better that way? Do we really want to know what celebrities have to say about politics? Do we really want them injecting themselves into the political debate?
What’s even more impressive about Sarah Jessica Parker is that she’s keeping her distance from politics, even when her fans are clamoring to hear more. Her response to fans is classy: “I’m not going to talk about stuff that I don’t feel educated on.” If only more people had her approach on social media!
Who knows? Maybe we’ll see images of Sarah Jessica Parker at the victory party of whoever wins the mayoral election. But, until then, we’ll have to guess her views. And that might just make us think harder. That’s a good thing. Maybe we’ll vote for candidates on the issues, rather than on “the vibes.”
Beware the midterm elections
With that being said, it’s hard not to feel a bit uneasy about what’s happening now in American politics. Half the country wants Trump behind bars, the other half wants Obama behind bars. There are investigations, hearings, subpoenas, secret meetings, and calls for people to be arrested. That’s plenty of fodder for conspiracy theories, as well as the worst sorts of misinformation and disinformation.
That makes me think that the upcoming midterm elections in 2026 are going to be some of the meanest, nastiest, and most controversial ever. That’s a shame. Social media was supposed to improve the political process in America, and now it looks like it’s done the opposite.