Breaking Barriers or Burning Bridges? The Potential for Social Media to Foster Understanding Across Backgrounds

The internet has made the world more connected than ever before. Every advancement in mass communication has introduced people to a little more about the world, but social media gives people easy access to new ideas, individuals, and communities worldwide. Social media, like any new technology, also brings its own set of challenges. Critics of social media will quickly identify its polarizing effects, negative impact on interpersonal relationships, and ability to circulate disinformation, often fueling political discord. However, are these features of the technology or of us as humans? Can social media, at its core, connect us more than it divides? This project attempts to shed light on this important question. Drawing from literature on extended contact theory, parasocial relationships, and political science research on other forms of mass media, this project explores social media’s influence on the ways in which it might passively increase empathy and reduce prejudice. The research examines whether ordinary interactions on social media platforms can foster understanding and identifies which platform features and user behaviors are potentially significant factors. This project represents a first step in evaluating and understanding social media as a tool that may allow us to build relationships and cross-cultural understanding. Social media is here to stay, so identifying how it can be used to foster relationships is key to healthy political discourse that might build bridges across cultural and political divides as we consider legislation about it going forward.