Social media is extremely harmful to the future of politics in the United States. For the persuasive essay, I am choosing to write about the negative influence of social media on the political sphere of the United States. This idea is especially intriguing to me because the effects of social media, since it is a rather new phenomenon, are still really unknown. Also, the climate of politics in America is extremely toxic, and the end of that toxicity is nowhere in sight. 

Specifically, political polarization is a very apparent problem that has been plaguing politics for several years now. Political polarization is essentially used to describe the gap between the two main political parties in the U.S., the Democratic and Republican parties. As the two parties that are meant to create laws bipartisanly drift further and further apart, so do their ideologies. Less compromise is seen and more hostility arises. 

In my thesis I contribute the harmful effects of social media as a main brewer of this political conflict. This puts more of an emphasis on the question of value, rather than calling for any specific policy to be drawn up. A policy that would fix this would be to ban all social media in general, but that is something is simply unfeasible, some would argue it as being impossible. 

I was able to find a very helpful book to aid me in my argument. It is called Frenemies: How Social Media Polarizes America and is written by William and Mary professor, Jaime E Settle. Settle is an Associate Professor of Government, as well as a co-director of the Social Science Research Methods Center, which helped her publish articles in the American Journal of Political Science. 

Based on the title alone I immediately gravitated to this book. Besides the obvious connection to the theme of my essay, the book includes amazing visuals, such as graphs and images, that add new pieces of context to the conversation of polarization in American politics. I have taken a few classes where the topic of polarization has come up, so fresh information is appreciated in order to further my understanding of the idea. 

Social media acts as a meddling point for anyone, anywhere to chime in on issues and comment on mostly anything they choose. While this is an important feature if used appropriately, many users abuse the comment section and use it to point fingers at those they do not agree with. It should go without saying that comment sections are brutal when it comes to current political issues. 

Some of the current research questions I have are: What will the future look like if polarization continues to grow? How does social media create a greater distance between the political parties? Is there any way to limit political discourse on social media without infringing on constitutional rights such as the first amendment?