A divided enemy is easier to conquer
I spent the majority of my time in the military as a Psychological Operations Specialist. The simplest way of describing what we did in PSYOP is that we used information to change the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people. While I was in Iraq, we used the skills we were taught to increase the utilization of the emergency response system (like the 911 system here in the US), encourage the people to turn in the people that were attacking coalition and Iraqi forces, as well as other smaller goals.
I bring up this experience so that when I talk about the trends I am seeing on social media, you understand a little more about the perspectives that I have. The skills we use in PSYOP are not novel, new, or secret. If you study history, you will see that leaders throughout all of history have used information management as a way of expanding their power and to stay in power. The internet has changed how information management is carried out. The internet has given the individual a much more powerful voice than they have ever had at any other time in history. Because of this added influence, we as individuals need to be that much more aware of the power of what we say online.
Direct Misinformation
The first of several ways I have seen people trying to control the attitudes and actions of people online is through direct misinformation. Since the first cases of what is now called COVID-19, I have seen many posts on social media that simply have the facts wrong. It seems in this time of crisis the percent of information being shared that is factually wrong is increasing. In times of panic and fear, the need for accurate and timely information is amplified even more than it is normally. Some of this is people talking about something that they do not know enough about to be as authoritative as they sound online. Some of this is a purposeful misrepresentation of facts by the people originating the story. As different as these two things may seem, they have the same solution: Check your facts before you post or repost something. There are a lot of sources that are somewhat objective about fact-checking a story. As with anything, you don't always want to get your information from one source. No matter how unbiased a particular person or group of people claim to be, they will always color what they say with their own experiences and opinions. I have included several resources at the end of this post that are a place to start when fact-checking a story.
Divisiveness
The second form of control that I see every day online is antagonistic and divisive speech. The "Us versus Them" attitude is something that seems to be at the heart of every human. It stems from the natural selfish nature that we are all at war against. In times of stress, this attitude tends to get worse. In the United States, there are a lot of forces that reinforce the mindset of "Us versus Them" The reality is though, that all politicians, regardless of party and values, are human, and suffer from the same selfishness that is common to all humans. This causes politicians, with very few exceptions, to assume that the government is the best tool for any problem that they face. This has been the root cause of almost all government expansion in modern times. I say all of this to hopefully make you aware that those in power wish to stay in power, and if they can convince you that the person that is affiliated with a different party is completely wrong all of the time, they will retain your vote and stay in power.
In the modern age, pushing an "Us versus Them" is done a lot on Social Media. Well, it is done a lot on all media outlets, but the one everyone can control is social media. I can't go very far down my feed on any social media platform without seeing people posting or reposting something that is intentionally divisive. It seems in some circles that criticizing and demeaning government officials of the opposing party is not only normal but encouraged on social media. The ability to stay anonymous online has given people a platform to say things that they would never say in public, at least I hope that is true.
So how do we combat this trend towards divisiveness? Start by filtering what you say, both in-person and online. Is what you are about to say driving a wedge between you and the people you are communicating with or is it an attempt to find common ground? The more you can work toward not posting or reposting divisive material online, the more positive and encouraging our online communities will be, and the influence you have on the world will be more positive than negative. In short, do not communicate in a way that divides people.
Let us all work together, especially in these trying times, to make our online interactions helpful, not hurtful. We will get through these trying times, whether they make us better, or bitter is up to you.
Resources:
A video series that does a much better job talking about this than I can.
Some Fact-checking sites (in no particular order):
https://www.snopes.com/
https://www.allsides.com/
https://www.opensecrets.org/
https://www.propublica.org/