LaVar Hosting Jeopardy July 26-30 Stan Account 👁

3/In the 2000s, everyone talked about "coastal" values vs. "flyover country". We assumed that was bad, because it would lead to polarization and local echo chambers. But maybe it was a modus vivendi. A compromise that allowed liberals and conservatives to share a country.

4/If you wanted traditional values and low taxes, you could move to a small city in Kansas. If you wanted a cosmopolitan life and liberal values, you could live in NYC or LA.

5/But now, with social media, where you live matters less. The people you interact with are spread all over the country - even in other countries. We sorted, and then social media un-sorted us.

6/Now, even if you're a conservative living in flyover country, a lefty can drag you on Twitter or Facebook. Even if I live in deep-blue San Francisco, Nazi trolls from East Europe can flood my feed.

7/Facebook forces us to be in a room with everyone we know. Twitter forces us to be in a room with everyone we don't know. Imagine throwing everyone in the world into a room and telling them to work out their differences and get along. What do you think will happen??

8/Instead of geographic space creating natural boundaries between people who don't share each other's values, social media forces us to rely on more active measures - blocking, unfriending, and even insults and trolling to make people go away.

9/On the upside, perhaps this process - after a long period of screaming and hate and unhappiness - really will result in less polarization, and the reemergence of a more unified national culture.