Andrew Melder

A healthy democracy is fuelled by reasoned, respectful discussions

Social media is structured for debates, not discussions

Debates are one side versus another, fuelling a desire to be right

The desire to be right takes over from reason

Reason allows us to recognise the world doesn’t work in black and white, but many shades of grey

The result of which is extreme views are amplified, but voices of reason get lost in the stream

All of which would be of limited impact if media journalism didn’t follow suit

Traditional media now promotes debates instead of discussion

In doing so, they help validate and amplify the extreme views of the minority

The platforms for discussions are gone

Discussions are extinct, and a healthy democracy is breaking down

How do we fix it?

Do we regulate social media and traditional media to promote more objective content?

No

Regulation only ensures the entrenched, large established companies continue to dictate the narrative in the future by raising the administrative barrier for new media to emerge

It won’t promote reasoned discussions as companies are only driven by profit

Social media and traditional media companies only promote the extremes because we click/watch/read/respond to it

Which makes them more money

Only a collective change in our behaviour can influence real change

We try to look at others to blame for the breakdown of democracy

The problem is us

Some of my workmates were talking about phone etiquette the other day and how technology is, in their eyes, having a negative effect on social gatherings. They lament seeing people looking at their phones during a social outing, one workmate and his friends have resorted to putting their phones in a pile during dinner, with the first one to pick up their device paying for the bill.

Personally I have to say I don't understand the issue. I'm quite capable of using my phone and holding a conversation with people at the same time, and I feel my friends are the same way.

For example, this weekend I caught up with my best friends for dinner. There was one laptop, one tablet and people using their phone at one stage or another. However, despite these "distractions" we continued to converse in the same way we have for over a decade.

But maybe I've got it wrong. Maybe it's about people finding others using their phones in social gatherings rude. I think if this is the case we need to get over the opinion that people are only paying attention to you when they are making eye contact or not doing anything else.

I often mention that we shouldn't be trying to apply normal social conventions to online activities, maybe we also need to rethink the entire notion of body language as well.

I feel like the the next generation (my son) is going to consider this behaviour normal, whether you know the people or they are strangers, and won't consider the practice as a sign of disrespect as it currently is portrayed.

It may even be a lot sooner than that. Think about how dramatically social norms have changed since Facebook was first available to the open public in 2006. With the dawn of wearable computing upon the general public (Google Glass, smart watches etc), I believe the we are about to have these values challenged sooner rather than later.

I'm personally intrigued about how people react when technology is getting more ingrained into everyday life. I fear the privacy backlash by over-zealous politicians and interest groups with the intention of forcing technology to conform with existing social norms instead of letting new social techniques naturally develop around it.

This piece was originally written on Google+