People are more online right now than ever before, in the history of the world. It& #39;s not even something people think about; it& #39;s passive.

But it& #39;s going to have real effects on our brains and will certainly be felt in November. My latest for @nprpolitics https://www.npr.org/2020/05/27/860369744/social-media-usage-is-at-an-all-time-high-that-could-mean-a-nightmare-for-democr">https://www.npr.org/2020/05/2...

The confluence of intense anxiety about our health, and intense feelings about our government& #39;s response make us more susceptible to false information.

Strong emotions = more likely to believe false information. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774541010/fake-news-is-scary-heres-how-to-spot-misinformation">https://www.npr.org/2019/10/2...

And there& #39;s research that points to social media having a polarizing effect.

A new WSJ story reported that Facebook has even had internal discussions about this

"Our algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness” read 1 slide https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-it-encourages-division-top-executives-nixed-solutions-11590507499">https://www.wsj.com/articles/...

So people are spending more time than ever before on websites that are KNOWN to further divides in society.

It& #39;s just a reminder that we are living in a giant social experiment. And no one, I mean NO ONE, knows how this thing resolves itself...