Social media and mobile phones are TEARING SOCIETY APART – study
SOCIETY could be on the brink of fragmenting, exacerbated by the invention of social connections which were designed to bring us together.
The creation of social platforms is tearing society apart, a new study has found. While the likes of social media and mobile phones were designed to connect us, they are actually pulling us apart, according to the research.
Experts at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH) analysed the impacts social connections have had on society, and it is not a positive result.
Physicist and complexity researcher, Stefan Thurner, said: “A few decades ago, we had to share our phone line with other households.
“Then every household had a line; later, every person had his or her own phone.
“Today, smartphones connect us with people all over the world at all times – and simultaneously through many channels.”
The study, published in Journal of The Royal Society Interface, stated that by introducing such connections, it has driven us apart.
According to the research, when faced with completions as to who deserves one’s attention within friendship circles, we have been forced to filter out those who make us stressed in what is known as homophily – the tendency to have positive ties with people who share similar views to ourselves.
Tuan Pham, the first author of the study, said: “People are happier when they do not disagree or argue with others.
“One can also say: Like will to like. In order to avoid stress, there is a tendency for opinions within a group to become more and more similar and aligned with each other.”