Wednesday March 12, 2025 | COLWOOD, BC [Updated March 13, 2025]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Things are happening in the world — some of them very quickly and many of them quite broad in scope.
Royal Roads University is presenting a panel on the leading edge of discourse about the significant socioeconomic and sociological changes that are happening in Canada and western economies, with an eye to social media in that dynamic.
These changes are coming to light through the changes in direction by the United States in terms of economy, democracy and interaction with the broader world.
Social media plays a role:
Social media platforms were designed to bring us closer together. Instead, society is more polarized than ever.
Are the platforms that were designed to foster connection creating an existential threat to democracy?
Four panelists:
On March 11, about 100 people attended a panel about all this at Royal Roads University in person, with more attending online to hear remarks by:
- Jaigris Hodson, associate professor in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Royal Roads University and Canada Research Chair for Digital Communication for the Public Interest.
- Thomas Homer-Dixon, founder and executive director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University.
- Victoria O’meara, lecturer of Digital Media in the School of Arts, Media and Communication at the University of Leicester.
- Athena Madan, associate professor in sociology at the University of Victoria.
- Moderated by Philip Steenkamp, president and vice-chancellor of Royal Roads University.
What was said:
Some of the key points from the March 11 Resisting the Bro-ligarchy: Politics, Polarization and Populism panel event include:
Online social media platforms are predicated on maximizing engagement. The more clicks, swipes, likes and shares, the better a website is thought to be achieving success. Engagement data is considered useful for platform business.
Social media slots people into consumer profiles.
The Internet was intended to democratize, as a way to get past gatekeepers and expert, allowing the creator economy to break through “the heavy hand of the state”.
Back in the early 1990s, the technology of the Internet began in the military realm as a means of direct text-based communication. Then there was an attempt to democratize it for use by the broader population.
The idea of a ‘bro-ligarchy’ was explored, having to do with social media tech giants like Mark Zuckerberg (Meta/Facebook), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Elon Musk (X) who have used social media to create enormous wealth and are now having direct influence on government and politics.
The example of Elon Musk buying Twitter (now called X) was about taking over an ‘online town square’ for his own purposes to shape the power dynamic. He championed ‘free speech’ but has exercised that in ways that ‘anything goes’, which is not necessarily in the public interest.
Fear, disgust, and anger are finding a place for expression in social media.
People are living a lot of their lives online, including for business, banking and education.
Social media can impact people personally, politically, socially and soulfully.
Social media can create silos, falling into the mentality of ‘the other’. But it can also be used for mutual aid and community care. It can be used to build understandings and see the perspectives of other people.
Absorbing information from online is different from the printed newspaper experience; the latter allows for serendipity and exposure to things you might not otherwise encounter.
Social media platforms can keep us isolated. The fragmentation of society can be tempered through conversations and developing a capacity for multiple truths.
Universities have always played a role in education and offering an opportunity for broader discourse.
===== RELATED:
- Resisting the Bro-ligarchy: Politics, Polarization and Populism (March 3, 2025)
- New Royal Roads undergrad programs: parent webinar Feb 11, student open house Mar 1 (February 10, 2025)
- Royal Roads University launches phased undergrad programs at Langford & Colwood campuses (February 4, 2025)
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