Any education for wicked problems needs to take into consideration the parts played by social media in these global challenges. Our students need to understand how these platforms and their underlying algorithms shape our realities and contribute to large and complex information landscapes co-constituting wicked problems. There are marked inequalities in access to news and information about wicked problems on social media, as well as extensive online trolling and abuse, and invasive data collection by corporations.

Much of the literature on social media has emphaised how it acts to increase polarisation of views and anger, and can lead to people only engaging with like minded others in ‘echo chambers’. While that can happen, the situation is more complex. We need to help our students understand that the highly partisan and noisy voices they may encounter are often in a small minority. As explained by Amy Arguedas and her colleagues, some forms of polarisation have increased in ways that exacerbated wicked problems but others have decreased. Top down cues from political elites – such as the US Republican Party – can drive polarisation much more strongly than social media use patterns. We should alo remember that relatively closed social media discussion with people who share your views can be supportive and can help groups work out positive approaches to activism.

I’ve just been reading this paper which explores how the polarising effects of social media on general social media users is overstated. It also explains how research methodologies and foci, as well as the context of studies, shape their findings about social media. Some of people these authors interviewed in Norway did get drawn into polarised positions but other could take shifting stances and be interested in diverse viewpoints. This was despite the interviewees being part of a very polarised discussion of the climate emergency on Facebook. I think this article would make a good example for helping students see the complexity and nuance in wicked problems and how we research them.

Photo by ANGELA FRANKLIN on Unsplash.