Polarization in the Digital Age

For the last few decades, social media in all forms has been an extremely prevalent part of people’s lives. Unfortunately, another social phenomenon that has become increasingly prevalent in society is polarization. Polarization is the sharply contrasting groups people are splitting themselves into based on their beliefs and opinions. Does the rise in social media explain the increased polarization levels? In examining the rise of polarization compared to the rise of social media usage to see if there is a direct correlation between the two, I argue that since the beginning of the social media era, there has been a vast increase in polarization levels