Good Conversation

No one has spent more time studying the toxic divides on social media platforms than Deb Roy and his colleagues at MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication. For my book Please Scream Inside Your Heart, their group provided me with invaluable data to illustrate how segmented we are in terms of the news that we consume and share. But the Center for Constructive Communication isn’t just about explaining how social media plays a role in dividing us, they’re also working on developing better social platforms that promote healthy communication. Great, interesting stuff from Deb Roy in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Internet Could Be So Good. Really. “The bottom line is this: We need to see and hear the humanity in others for democracy to function. We can and should create social networks designed for public discourse that prioritize inclusion, where underheard voices and perspectives can flourish, and where people take and offer disagreement in good faith. Ad-supported social media is not the only game in town, nor should it be.”