Does social media promote or undermine democracy?

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, once proclaimed that “information is the currency of democracy”. It is clear that the health and ultimate success of any democracy relies on the ability of its citizens to be informed stakeholders in any political process. Without the freedom of this valuable commodity, stability cannot exist alongside a society’s decentralisation of power- a decentralisation of information must thrive simultaneously.

If social media were to be described to those learning about the principles of a democratic state, it would seem perfectly placed to fulfil this need. Imagine the brief- ‘A platform through which citizens may express their views on governance and build motions for change without oppression’. One vital word is absent from this description and from the discernment too of many of those who use social media: influence.

The extensive, profound and yet often subliminal influence of companies such as Facebook and Instagram over democratic populations brings with it no precedent to draw upon. This has meant that in recent times, the relatively barren landscape of regulation of such companies has drawn more and more users into the jaws of democratically harmful disinformation and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. The 2016 United States Presidential election provides the first historical lens to analyse these phenomena under due to their sweeping utility in the electoral process. The facts surrounding 2016 are clear: an American geopolitical adversary used disinformation, propelled by social media, to sow dissent and division within an already politically polarized public. Facebook estimates that external actors succeeded in the creation of 80,000 posts that reached nearly 126 million people over the span of two years in the United States. Would it really be correct to label such campaigns as enablers of democracy?

To analyse this question, we shall flip it on its head. Is social media instead enabling the world’s autocratic and anocratic systems to dismantle democracy? Such examples are not unique or isolated but go to the heart of how social media can ultimately serve as a net-negative for the health of any democracy. I believe that information in societies pervaded by such platforms has in fact become over-decentralised to the extent of an inexpedient existence in which consumption has become less centred around analytical reasoning and logic, but rather emotional appeal that re-affirms, compounds and entrenches radical political predispositions. The more nebulous that information becomes, the further that attention spans shrink on an individual level. This process has allowed both domestic and global opponents of democracy to prey on vulnerabilities of human nature through sensationalised headlines misconstruing the truth in order to further their own cause of anti-democracy.

Ultimately, the question of whether social media promotes or undermines democracy can be translated into one of whether we should allow politics to take on a global scale. The net-negative impacts of this are clear when the antithetical motives, values and overpowering influences of different actors are analysed under a longer attention span than social media has forced us to adopt.

What would winning a Crowd Scholar scholarship mean to you?

I can summarise what this scholarship would mean to me in three words: a formidable comeback.

Receiving my Cambridge offer soon after coming out on top in an eight-year battle with an eating disorder has shown me that my new-found life and its future do hold the potential that I for so long, underneath, believed was possible. Teaching myself the content for and completing my GCSE exams in hospital during the second of two inpatient stays lasting more than a year allowed me to learn earlier than most what it really feels like to achieve through solely my own work. I have carried this forward in everything that I do.

While I can now see the opportunity that the future holds, I know that I do not have the funds to support this. Life with my unemployed single mum has exposed me to the harsh reality that doing the subject I love at a higher level comes at a cost which we currently cannot pay. Students at Cambridge are not allowed to hold a part-time job whilst studying, so with no additional income I am concerned that stress will push me behind my peers. While a maintenance loan will cover my living costs, it can never give me the extra resource that I need to thrive academically at Cambridge and invest in Mathematics what I think such a beautiful subject deserves.

I’ve had the privilege of working with Hannah for the past two years as her A Level maths teacher. She is a passionate and talented mathematician and an extraordinary student. Hannah delights in applying new ideas to solve problems. She does so with rigour that is rare in an A Level mathematician, but it’s the elegance of her reasoning and written maths that is truly joyful. Reading Hannah’s maths always makes me smile, whether it’s pure or applied, mechanics or statistics. Hannah’s beautiful mathematics is supported by a phenomenal drive. This has been present throughout education, but particularly at GCSE, where Hannah received straight grade 9s despite two extended hospital inpatient admission during which she was not at school (for 4 months in year 10 and 10 months in year 11). This has continued into sixth form, where Hannah consistently completes all extension work and actively seeks out challenges, while still making sure she has mastered the standard work. Her work ethic and independence go beyond the classroom, where Hannah has been accepted into a number of external maths programs, including the Pembroke College Oxford Maths Residential, the Christ’s and Trinity Colleges’ Women in Maths Residential, a Cambridge Maths Masterclass and an Imperial College STEM Potential event. Hannah received a grade A in her AS mock exams, where she dropped only two marks. She is predicted A* for maths, further maths and physics. It’s worth mentioning that Hannah qualifies for Free School Meals and as a result is currently in receipt of the 16-19 bursary. Hannah is an excellent candidate for further assistance in Further Education.