Author: Jody Reese

Facebook has been advertising how it creates community — how it brings people together. Dads can share dad stuff with other dads, like going to a baseball game with their kids. Or at least that’s what the ads say.
But there is also a darker side. According to recent reporting from the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is helping radicalize extremists and has known that its algorithms move people deeper down a radical rabbit hole. Facebook’s recommendation tools actually suggested more radical groups to join. According to the Journal, Facebook executives found that, in their words: “Our algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness.”
On top of that, a 2019 study by professors at New York University and Stanford demonstrated that people were happier and less polarized when they stayed off Facebook.
So what does this mean for us?
I would hope it would give us pause to put down the phone, close the app and engage in your community in real life. Yes, the pandemic has temporarily made it harder to get out and see people, but Facebook is right about one thing: We crave community, in a good way. We enjoy the company of others even if we don’t know them. So as soon as you feel it’s safe, engage in a conversation with a stranger. Join a service group, like Rotary, and enjoy the community it provides. Volunteer. Volunteer to be around people unlike yourself.
Let’s not let Facebook use our desire for connections as a way to suck us online, divide us and sell us stuff.