Max Fisher: Social Media and the Havoc on Our Minds

Do we really understand the reach and impact that social media has on our lives? We all have a vague sense that social media can be bad for our minds, for our children, and for our democracies. Yet that doesn't stop us from constantly using it.

New York Times investigative reporter Max Fisher looks at how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks drive everyday users to extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions.

Fisher tracks the evolution of free speech to hate speech and its spillover into violence—that first festered in far-off locales to their dark culmination in America during the pandemic, the 2020 election, and the Capitol insurrection. He also addresses the cultural shift in which people are polarized not by beliefs based on facts, but by misinformation, outrage and fear.

Hear more about the influence that social media has and how it isn’t just changing our lives, but the world.

SPEAKERS

Max Fisher

International Reporter and Columnist, The New York Times; Author, The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World; Twitter @Max_Fisher

In conversation with DJ Patil

Former U.S. Chief Data Scientist; Member, The Commonwealth Club of California Board of Governors; Twitter @dpatil

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 22nd, 2022 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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