FCC Chairman Pai asks: Is social media a net benefit to American society?

Is social media a net benefit to American society? Given the increasingly important role that social media plays in our daily lives, this is a question that all of us, including groups like the Media Institute, need to grapple with. Now, I will tell you up front that I don’t have an answer. And I won’t touch on particular policy issues, like social media’s role in elections. What I have in mind is something broader. With that, let me suggest two trends that I believe have lowered our discourse—and how social media has enabled each. First: Everything nowadays is political. Everything. Today, politics infuses everything from entertainment awards shows to natural disasters. And there is no respite from it. Virtually every aspect of American life seems to have been tainted in one way or another with politics. And everyone is expected to have an opinion. If they don’t, they are suspected of being on “the other side,” which is of course bad.... The second trend I’d suggest to you: The virtual is displacing the real. As we’ve become more accustomed to interacting on the Internet, we don’t prioritize or experience in-person conversations as much. And with the lack of personal contact, we’ve forgotten the mores that we used to learn through face-to-face conversations—mores like civility and tolerance.