Social Warming: How Social Media Polarises Us All

by Charles Arthur

An impassioned exploration of the ways in which social media has manipulated us all

Nobody meant for this to happen.

Facebook didn’t mean to facilitate a genocide.

Twitter didn’t want to be used to harass women.

YouTube never planned to radicalise young men.

But with billions of users, these platforms need only tweak their algorithms to generate more ‘engagement’. In so doing, they bring unrest to previously settled communities and erode our relationships.

Social warming has happened gradually – as a by-product of our preposterously convenient digital existence. But the gradual deterioration of our attitudes and behaviour on- and offline – this vicious cycle of anger and outrage – is real. And it can be corrected. Here’s how.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Technology, Social Media, Audiobook, Society, Science

357 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 24, 2021

Reviews

[Chris Rutledge · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book presents the best "one stop shopping" site for what progressive liberals think needs to be imposed on the internet and on social media. I began the book with the question how worried should I be about the effects of the social media companies. By one third in, I was far more worried about the controls that some never-defined judging group would like to put in place to ensure I do not wander into sites or search for information or topics that they deem harmful to me. They don't mind algorithms at all, when you take their arguments apart. They just think "proper" algorithms should be imposed by...somebody...so that access to information, and information sharing is...managed. (Which is what China does, but this seems lost on the author.) Overall, the control thesis of this book reminds me of being a small child, and entering a vast library, and being told by looming librarians that I was not to wander into this or that section of the stacks because it was not appropriate for me. A very topical and alarming book, but not in the way the writer intended.

[Ben Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, accessible, and worrying book about the true impact that social media has on people on both a small scale and a large scale.

There's the large scale stuff like the spread of misinformation, and the impact on elections and injustices worldwide, but there's also the very humbling fact that it has changed the way that we think (yes, even me and you, wherever you sit on the political spectrum) and behave. It's made us more extreme, more vicious, more paranoid, and more willing to attack people we disagree with.

There's nothing SURPRISING, as such, in this book, but it is shocking to read just how far it's all gone, and just how little the companies behind Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc are willing to do, because it risks costing them money.

Depressing, but insightful.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this book is excellent in my opinion. I read it via audiobook which I would recommend however, I will be purchasing a physical copy so I can re-read this and highlight aspects. (This is mainly because it fits in with my job but it is that good.) This book is a great starter into the impacts of social media on our world. It is not an exhaustive analysis but it is very good for looking at specific examples.

While social media has been successful for many reasons, for example I love finding small businesses to follow and I love using goodreads for reviews, there is no denial of the negative. People often blame the youth and how social media is damaging their minds and don't get me wrong it has changed the way young people grow up but it is also impacting adults. This book is excellent at explaining in detail why and how that is happening. In particular it focuses on events surrounding the elections in the UK and US and the events in Myanmar while also being more general about the impact of algorithms on our lives.

I find it hard to review non-fiction so I'll probably leave that here and maybe update this on my second read through. To me this book was well written, research and easy to understand. I think anyone with an interest in the subject would find it enjoyable. I will say as someone who does have some knowledge of this already, I didn't find anything too shocking but it was still an enjoyable read.

[Jeremy Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going bipolar
I bought this book (which was last updated in 2021) last year, intrigued by its promise of looking at the rise of social media and its effects on society. The main reason this has become so pervasive is the rise of the smartphone, which enables us to communicate whilst mobile; the author points out that it's taken about a decade for the world to go "from a time when barely anyone owned a smartphone to one where [more than half of] the world's 7.6 billion do" [p2], acutely noting that smartphones "have replaced cigarettes as the perfect filler for those empty moments, waiting for trains, meals or a friend. Pull it out of your pocket, watch it light up, suck it in and relax" [p2]. Being able to access the internet and all its information on the move is highlighted as another technological revolution, described as an enormous contribution to humanity by Eric Schmidt (although this is punctured by the author suggesting that implies that "you could gain knowledge by simply sitting in a library" [p32]).

So far, so good, but this book is about the corrosive effects of social media. The fundamental issue here appears to be that the owners of the networks (Facebook, Twitter (aka X), YouTube, etc) are driven (by the advertising revenue which pays the bills, since users don't pay for access) to maximise engagement by users: the longer they spend on-screen, the more the advertisers pay the owners. The problem with engagement is in part due to our human nature: a fascination with outrage, contention and condemnation, which often outweighs more positive content such as pictures of kittens. This is illustrated by a simple analogy on p74: if the system which controls what users see observes that everyone looks at (or is unable to not look at) a car crash, then it'll show you more of them - and will even try to cause them. This link to advertising income is made explicit by the companies' priorities: since advertisers won't pay for adverts shown to non-existent people, Facebook "has a direct financial interest in ensuring that every account is tied to a real person", but doesn't care if "real people choose to read and share utterly untrue content" [p216]

The author notes that one of the mechanisms for causing contention is the use of "scissor statements" in posts; these cut a group of people into two sides, with no room for equivocation (e.g. The UK should leave the EU, Hilary would have been a better president than Trump, trans women are women). Technically, they're axioms: to be treated as either true or false, because they're impossible to prove, and not to be confused with the false dichotomies which originate with conspiracists (e.g. Obama was born in Africa, Man never landed on the moon) and which can be proven to be untrue. The original scissor statement is named as a shibboleth - a custom or tradition which distinguishes one group from another - following the word's use by the army of Gilead, who identified the defeated Ephraimites by asking them to say the word (which they knew they couldn't) before executing them. And the way that an apparently trivial disagreement can trigger a massively disproportionate degree of outrage in the closed, tight-knit groups on social media is identified as an example of Sayre's law: "In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake", where the original example was academic politics ("the reason they're so viscous is because the stakes are so small" [p104]).

To illustrate the real-world consequences of the disputes, the author describes the increasing use of Facebook in Mayanmar, where a UN fact-finding mission found in 2018 that the sharing and communications which it provided had “substantively contributed to the level of acrimony and dissension and conflict [...] within the public” [p144]. Part of the issue there was the mismatch between the culture and expectations of the platform and that of the country - for example, users couldn't see why they needed to be "friends" with their family members, since they saw them (in person) every day.

There's another chapter on how social media polarizes politics (with an eye-catching description of the no-deal Brexit as a negotiating threat against the EU "akin to breaking your own leg ahead of a race" [p151]. The way the immediacy and interaction of social media contributes to the overheating of political discourse is linked to the notion that every result should be questioned, which corrodes the sense of "frustration and patience" which is a prerequisite of the democratic process. Instead, we feel that we "can't afford to lose the next election, because our politics is so divided that if you let the other lot in, they will use their power to skew it for next time" [p168] - a depressingly accurate premonition of the rhetoric of last year's US election. And the way in which statements intended to inspire outrage - often using apophasis (where a subject is introduced by either denying it, or denying that it should be brought up) is usefully articulated: "look, they'll say, we're pretty sure the Bosnian Muslims aren't planning to do that. But *if* they are, the outcome would be *so* terrible that we've got no choice but to support the right-wing party *just in case*" [p262]. The nature of how the media companies allow inflammatory statements to be spread by politicians (and how they're perhaps not as egalitarian as they aspire to be) is illustrated by the story of how a Twitter user tested this in June 2020, tweeting the same words as Donald Trump. The account was "suspended within three days for breaking the rule about glorifying violence, whilst Trump's account remained untouched" [p302].

A final example is the way social media spread mistrust and misinformation associated with COVID, and other medical conditions such as autism: for example, some parents, led by adverts and peer pressure on the internet believed that administering (what turned out to be) chlorine dioxide enemas to their children flushed out what they believed were the parasites which caused the condition (when in fact it was part of the child's "intestinal lining, stripped off by the chemical" [p290]).

A stimulating, interesting read, which would have earned five stars if the publishers had gone to the trouble of including an index - a woeful oversight for a non-fiction book, which immediately reduces its usefulness.

[Doug Lewars · Rating 2 out of 5]

*** Possible Spoilers ***

First the good news, this book is quite pleasant to read; however, light fiction is just as nice.

If you're hoping to learn something this book isn't for you. It tends to repeat what you already know over and over and over. In addition, the title refers to 'social media' in general; however I'd say about 80% of the book concerns Facebook, a platform young people suggest is used by no-one but the elderly (although I think they define 'elderly' as starting at about 25).

Okay, there are bad actors. We know that. Social media can be toxic. We know that too. Frequently you'll find yourself in an echo chamber. Right. The algorithms are designed to keep you online longer in order to view more advertisements and they do this by pushing hot buttons to encourage doom scrolling. (The author never used the term 'doom scrolling' but he described it nonetheless.)
Yes, we knew that too. By constantly pushing hot-buttons people become increasingly polarized. Something else which was pretty obvious to everyone. In short, I think we pretty much already know the author's points.

Was there anything new? He established a pretty good link between Facebook and the violence in Myanmar resulting in the large flight of Muslims so I found that interesting, but beyond that there wasn't much.

His solution to all this? Shrink the networks. Split up the large social media companies into small bits thereby reducing the audience and the positive feedback loop building up anger will be drastically diminished - he hopes. He suggests the purge of right wing users which drove them to Gab and Parler solved the problem. I'm not so sure about that. I think it probably just created tighter echo chambers where their anger can fester unchecked. I suppose time will tell.

If you want a light read this book is okay but if you're hoping to learn something forget it.

[Kimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aku suka baca Social Warming karena bukunya ringan dan enak dibaca jadi mudah dipahami. Aku jadi lebih mengerti mengenai bahaya media sosial dan membuatku semakin belajar untuk berhati-hati dalam menggunakan media sosial.

Jadi, yang dimaksud dengan social warming adalah efek samping dari kemajuan teknologi yang membuat hidup kita semakin nyaman, sebuah konsekuensi yang tidak disengaja. Disebut warming karena terjadinya secara bertahap. Kita tidak ada sadar akan perubahan itu sampai akhirnya menjadi lebih buruk.

Social change isn't marked by abrupt shifts, but by almost imperceptible changes in behavior and habits that are only obvious in retrospect.

Terjadinya social warming ini melalui tiga interaksi, yaitu:

1. The parallel rise of smartphone availability and social network accessibility
2. Each platform is able to learn and amplify what captures our attention, getting us to log in more frequently and for longer.
3. The amplification is unregulated and unrestricted.

Sudah terlihat toh memang tujuan media sosial itu membuat kita untuk terus mengaksesnya dan membuat kita kecanduan. Karena tujuannya ya kalau kita sudah kecanduan, semakin mudah bagi media sosial untuk meracuni kita dengan iklan mereka. Dan perusahaan media sosial pun semakin kaya. Karena prinsip media sosial itu ada tiga. Pertama, dapatkan pengguna sebanyak mungkin. Kedua, buat mereka kecanduan. Ketiga, monetisasilah para pengguna tersebut.

Tujuan awal media sosial diciptakan untuk connecting everyone. Niat yang baik, tetapi pada perkembangannya media sosial juga jadi tempat menyebar hoaks, radikalisasi, genosida, dan pelecehan. Memang ada hal positif dari media sosial, tetapi itu tidak menjadi fokus dalam buku ini.

Dalam buku ini, aku jadi bisa mengerti bagaimana proses media sosial bisa menjadi pemecah belah suatu bangsa atau negara. Selain memang karena isunya sudah ada jauh sebelum internet mudah diakses, penetrasi ponsel yang sudah tertanam media sosial juga dengan paket data murah khusus media sosial, membuat isu tersebut semakin liar dan melebar. Ditambah dengan masih banyak yang belum memiliki literasi digital yang baik, utamanya di negara-negara berkembang. Karena harga paket data yang mahal. Umumnya paket data media sosial hanya bisa mengakses media sosial dan jika ingin mengakses Google atau situs web lain dikenakan biaya paket internet lain yang lebih mahal sehingga membuat orang-orang menjadikan media sosial sebagai sumber berita utama, tanpa mengecek kebenarannya. Ini yang terjadi di Myanmar (kasus genosida Rohingya) dan Rwanda, juga polarisasi politik di Filipina. Meski demikian, hal tersebut -- penyebaran hoaks, ekstremisme, polarisasi politik, pelecehan di media sosial-- tidak hanya terjadi di negara berkembang, melainkan juga di negara maju, seperti di US. Semuanya itu terjadi karena, thanks to, algoritma.

Media sosial besar tidak hanya sekali dua kali dapat teguran dari pemerintah berbagai negara untuk dapat mengatur konten yang diposting, tetapi banyak saja alasannya, terutama Facebook. Dari yang kubaca, Mark Zuckerberg banyak banget ngeles-nya. Padahal jelas-jelas genosida di Myanmar dan Rwanda terjadi karena amplifikasi postingan di Facebook. Itu baru dua contoh. Belum lagi contoh-contoh lain yang dibahas di buku ini. Yah, tapi, setidaknya, media sosial besar, seperti Facebook, YouTube, dan Twitter, sepakat untuk lebih ketat dan menghapus postingan hoaks terkait Covid-19, termasuk postingan antivaksin.

Aku akan menutup resensiku ini dengan mengutip dari bab terakhir di buku ini yang menurutku bagus sekali.

In the past, our toolmaking ancestors knew what to do with something that didn’t work as required: redesign and reshape it to match your desired outcome. We can’t change our essential natures. But we can change our tools. The extent of social warming demonstrates that the time has come to reshape and redesign these broken tools we have come to rely on.

Yuk, para petinggi perusahaan media sosial, perbaiki media sosial yang kalian punya agar lebih ramah, nyaman, dan aman buat semua penggunanya.

p.s.: Resensi ini juga aku muat di blog bukuku di sini.

[Keely · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was alright. I never felt it went as deep as it should. Nor was enough background research was done. I mean, we know that if we watch something, the algorithm will give us what it considers similar to get us keep watching. Which leads to us ending in an echo chamber and often more radical opinions. We know social media wants us to spend as many hours as we can. We know that it can be damaging and toxic, just in general, no matter where you spend your time on the Internet. It didn't provide anything fresh or new. It would be a okay read for someone who is a beginner on this subject. The only new thing that I have never heard about before was the situation in Myanmar. It is written quite well, though I'm not sure any the answers to solve these "problems" would actually work in practice and wouldn't make everything worse. It's a complicated subject with a lot of nuances and this book approached it a bit too simply for me e.g. if you kick someone off a site due to their views, they will just go somewhere else and will persecuted/victimised/vindicated which will just make them dig in their heels in harder, rather than snapping out of it. It would also become an echo chamber even more. And I'm not sure if it should be up to the government on what can be accessed and what can't. (Obviously I'm talking about stuff that is legal, not illegal.)

[Christopher Patti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was initially concerned that this would be a tiresome diatribe incanting the endless narrative that the Internet is EEEVIL.

It isn't. Instead it's a thoughtful and erudite examination of the effects social media is having on our world.

He begins with some rather insightful analysis of the evolutionary outcomes that drive our addiction and then builds upon that foundation as the book progresses through chapters examining its effect on politics, the media and our very perception of what is fact versus fiction in the modern era.

I would whole heartedly recommend this book to any thinking person who has noticed that the flowery PR and corporate mantra that drive the meteoric growth of these companies has a darker side beyond what's obvious.

To anyone who works in the technology field or the media, I think this book is almost unarguably essential reading. We should view it and the science it cites as critical in understanding the ethical dimensions of what we do for a living.

Because we all care about ethics... Right?

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stuffed to the gills with considered analyses, Charles Arthur's investigation into the polarising effects of social media is at turns essential, bountiful, and horrifying.

Arthur goes deep here, with a closer look at algorithmic recommendations and their implications. Refreshing to find that those implications aren't only discussed as regarding the west, but also (and more tellingly) in developing countries - the sections on Myanmar especially had me wide-eyed. I considered myself of above-average knowledge of this topic before reading, but the case studies and deep analyses offered here had me feeling like a novice.

There are many things wrong with this world, and many of them can be attributed to Facebook. The sooner we halt our dependence on such a non-essential destructive force, the better.

[Honey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pertinent exploration on how social media knowingly and unknowingly caused divisive changes in social behaviour, politics, and history.

It touches on case studies including how WhatsApp and Twitter have had effects on UK politics, US politics and the bizarre world of algorithms.

I was most intrigued by how it affected the alarming social unrest in Myanmar, when citizens were exposed to fake news via what they thought was the internet: Facebook. The burner phone syndrome made it easy to have more accounts to spread hate. Plus, Unicode and language barriers made it even more difficult: most people thought the “Like” button meant “I’ve seen this”, so it was easy to hit the algorithms to push for fake news as they become so “popular”.

Whilst suggestions of the author to temper the polarising effects of social media seem very reasonable, I’m not quite sure how realistic they can be in terms of execution as these social media giants continue to grow and majority of populations rely on them for convenience. We have become a society of convenience and doom scrolling has made us lazy researchers of truth.

[Kaitlyn C · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book with high expectations. The chapter about Facebook and cell phones becoming widely available in Myanmar was very interesting and informative. Some good stories and examples but most of this book is just repeating itself on the exact same conclusion: social media has given fake news more attention and made people more extreme. That anecdote is important but this book was chalk full of the authors political opinions and commentary. I don't disagree with many of the points he makes but I got pretty annoyed as his ranting and rambling took away from the main point of this book. There are much better titles to read on this subject.

[Lee Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the metaphor/pun holds water, the Thwaites Ice Shelf has already slid into the sea.

"The analogy with cars is apt. They are so convenient and you can go anywhere in them. It's only after some years that the smog covering the city becomes evident, and breathing problems become widespread. If political discourse becomes hopelessly polluted by social media content, the problem isn't necessarily with politics, but with what social media does to it." (256)

(Another book for me to file under "Dystopian Non-Fiction")

[Divya Das · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is informative and topical, but very repetitive and in my opinion could have been much more condensed, while giving the same amount of information. I didn't gain any new perspectives or insights as such, rather just more grounded examples supporting my existing ideas about social media. In my opinion, the book also heavily relied on information about older social media apps, like Facebook, which is a long ways away from current day social media. However, I found the in-depth essay on social media algorithms in particular to be very interesting and eye-opening.

[Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've wondered how social media turned from being a powerful connector to a tool of dissent, this book explains in great detail.

Worth reading.

Please read a more detailed review via https://www.chicagonow.com/one-cause-...

[Asmita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Social Warming is a good introductory read about the perils of having little or no regulations on current social media platforms. However, if you have been following the contemporary news (last 5-6 years) about social media and content platforms that recommend based on user activity and engagement, then you already know pretty much everything this book has to offer.

[Ciara Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting read about how social media sites are influencing our world ! My fave quote that essentially sums up the book "the current landscape of the internet is essentially a series of levers and automations because the largest companies responsible for how we use the web are operating at a scale that can no longer be properly moderated by human beings"

[Mikael Lind · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, while this book is far from being perfect, it sort of explains why simplifying comments and tweets get more attention than nuanced and cautious ones. So if you're wondering why your insightful comment on the situation in Gaza gets far fewer reactions and comments than your friend's simplifying slogan, read the book and find out why.

[Kevin Pitchford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another in the many books warning of the obvious perils of social media and the evils of the corporations controlling it. Still, it was an an enjoyable read adding more insight into Silicon Valley's penchant for using free speech as an excuse for their rekckless disregard for humanity in the name of ill-gotten profit. Informative read.

[Hema R · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book started out with a high talking about the effects of social media in today's life. Some examples stood out like the one about Myanmar. But the rest of it was repetitive. Lacks the perspective of the author.

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So interesting. Lots to think about.

[Morgan Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on how social media is running our society and what we need to do in order to save it!

[Thomasina Jordan-Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

In depth read into social media, the internet & ever polarized societies. Highly recommend!

[Liney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think about this book frequently

[Joris W. van Rijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

That social media’s effect on our current society isn’t marginal was no news to me. However, the extent to which platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (the three most discussed platforms in Social Warming) have contributed to the 21st century quite shocked me.

Although the author illustrates some of the positive effects of social media, the dangerous power of social media is explained throughout the book. The consequences of “early” social media coming to be (due to fortuitous law-making) and of social media now becoming so impactful (algorithmic amplification) is derived from many case studies from recent history. These are powerful in both positive and negative sense.

The analogy with global warming is striking and referred to many times. Though not specifically mentioned, I almost started to feel guilty to be “part of the problem”. To state clearly: I do not engage in any hate nor conspiracy groups or what so ever - however, simply enjoying social media services incentivizes these large platforms to monetise my online behaviour, which in turn inevitably enables the aforementioned hate/conspiracy groups to misuse the same algorithm “intended” for other reasons.

As with global warming, the inaction of larger companies due to misaligned interests (why would they solve fake news if it’s costs them profit) is frustrating.

In one of the latter chapters, the rise of misinformation is discussed. I feel it is imperative to add another aspect to this topic since, in my opinion, the author fails to address a scary aspect of “regulating misinformation”.

To imply that social media platforms did a wrong job not censoring user generated content in general but did a better job when COVID hoaxes were (effectively) censored, felt quite dystopian to me. Fundamentally: The curation of the information we all see daily should never be in the hands of the stakeholder who is incentivised by increasing capitalistic gains. Even when it coincidentally aligns with your own values. This is a dangerous slippery slope. Other solutions must be found.

I would have been delighted to read an elaboration on the very lasts paragraphs of this book, which calls to action on how to actually contribute on solving this problem - although recognising and acknowledging the problem (which is the purpose of this book) is always a first step.

[Megan McCarthy-Biank · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Mark Zuckerburg first created Facebook, I doubt he saw the potential that it would turn into the enormous and powerful social media platform it is today. Same with Jack Dorsey et al and Jawed Karim et al regarding Twitter and YouTube, respectively. Nevertheless, these three platforms have become huge drivers of connecting communities and sharing content with like-minded people. But what happens when these individuals are racist, homophobic, sexist, etc., and want to connect with others who feel the same way? Social Warming: The Dangerous and Polarising Effects of Social Media by Charles Arthur explores, in detail, just how this concept slowly but inevitably became reality.

Read my entire review on The Nerd Cantina website.

Listen to my interview with the author on The Nerd Cantina Show podcast.