Social Media: A Breeding Ground for Energy or Apathy?

Abstract

Due to increased political tension this past year, social media networks have become common outlets for people to express their political ideals and call others to action. The narcotizing dysfunction theory, developed by Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton in 1948, states that people can substitute knowledge for action as a result of being inundated by mass media about polarizing issues. It seems worth investigating whether social media parallels this theory and, at a point, stops serving as a means to effect change. Does posting about political and social issues create a false sense of political activism, contributing to decreased political participation? To explore this question, a survey administered to 160 participants examined their behavior on social media, political participation, and perceived political activeness. The results showed that those who considered themselves politically active read and posted about political/social issues on social media at a higher rate than which they took tangible political action. From this data, it was concluded that social media plays a role in narcotizing the participants of the survey by providing a passive alternative to active participation. The implications of this trend are detrimental to our democracy in a time when political participation is exceedingly low.