UC Davis communication professor and students weigh in on staying politically informed
By RACHEL GAUER — features@theaggie.org
Following the re-election of President Donald Trump, many have taken note of the president’s close relations with key players in various technology and social media companies.
Elon Musk, chairman of X, Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer (CEO) of Meta, the company that owns both Facebook and Instagram, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, were all seen front and center at the president’s inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20, suggesting an integrated relationship between tech CEOs and contemporary American politics.
With Meta’s recent decision to both cut their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and its fact-checking program, some have inferred that these platforms may have developed a stronger right-leaning political agenda due to their relations to the Republican president. In response, some who are in disagreement with the company’s actions have opted to delete or deactivate their accounts on Meta platforms.
Nestor Perez, a second-year Russian and Italian double major, made a choice to delete the Instagram application following the presidential inauguration, an event he said sparked a connection between the Meta platform and Zuckerberg’s involvement with the government.
“I feel like the new presidency was what pushed me to finally get rid of the social media that I have because it was appalling to see how these CEOs and people who run these platforms are worming their way into the government,” Perez said. “This is something that should not be a thing, they should be completely separate. The fact that it is getting like this is what finally made me say ‘no.’”
Magdalena Wojcieszak, a professor of communication at UC Davis, studies news and political information engagement through courses CMN 145 (Political Communication) and CMN 141(Media Effects: Theory & Research). Wojcieszak provided insight into the deletion of social media, commenting that though it may be beneficial to one’s mental health, it is important to strive to keep updated with the news.
“I feel that deleting your account is a very political statement that shows you are politically engaged,” Wojcieszak said. “It is actually likely to increase your well-being because you’d be exposed to less negativity, but you need to get into a habit of, say, having your homepage show the New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Fox or wherever you get your news. Otherwise, if you do see news on the platforms and then you delete it, it is possible that you then think you’re living in a blissful reality.”
Katherine Krinsky, a fourth-year English major, said she strives to find balance. She tries to stay away from social media due to its addictive nature and overexposure to what she sees as excessively negative content, while still ensuring that she is politically engaged.
“I realized that I wanted to prioritize being informed on what’s happening but on doses that I can control more,” Krinsky said. “Rather than getting sucked into ‘doom scrolling’ on Instagram, I have gotten into the habit of listening to NPR news podcasts every morning and spending some time at the end of each day reviewing the headlines from the New York Times. I feel like I’ve been able to manage the energy that I give to my news intake instead of being overwhelmed by the intensity of the news I’d see on social media.”
Social media, particularly for Gen Z individuals, serves as a means of communication with others, education on current events and a way to keep up with trends. Without it, one may feel disconnected and less informed about the world, especially for those who primarily rely on social media for news coverage. Deleting it therefore may have both social and political consequences, as users may be generally less exposed to informative content.
However, Wojcieszak said that those who do rely on social media for news information may be exposing themselves to overly negative content.
“There is research that shows that news that is shared on social media platforms is way more negative than the news that is posted on the website,” Wojcieszak said. “Say, for instance, someone goes to the social media page of The Washington Post — the articles that they decide to share are way more negative in tone than what is actually available on the website.”
Wojcieszak explained that the content that tends to get the most traction on social media sites — shares, clicks and comments -– tend to be stories with a negative or disheartening edge. Due to this pattern, the sites have more incentive to continue to post similar content.
“My work shows once it is [posted] on the platform, what is then being shared and gets the most engagement is negative and [tends] to be things that attack the other side,” Wojcieszak said. “If you are one of the few people who get their news from social media, you are exposed to more negativity, conflict and polarization than you would be just by going to the home page.”
Though it can be discouraging to view content that tends to be overwhelmingly negative, Wojcieszak emphasized the importance of being politically engaged and viewing news content -– a trait that she has found to be in small numbers through her research on political news avoidance.
“People find news overly negative, overly conflictual, overly focused on drama, polarization and whatnot, and that is said to turn many people away from news,” Wojcieszak said. “But the reason the negativity in the news is the reason to not watch news applies to not many people — it applies to people who used to consume news or who want to consume news. In order to be negatively affected by negativity, you need to be actually engaging with news — that reason for news avoidance pertains to actual news users. Which brings me to the majority -– the majority of people just don’t care.”
Wojcieszak suggested to younger individuals to involve themselves in the political realm as much as possible, stressing the importance of connecting current events to our daily lives.
“I am worried that the younger generation is withdrawing from politics altogether,” Wojcieszak said. “I ask that you guys don’t do that — it’s so easy to not notice how much everything that is happening in Washington impacts you. It’s really easy to say, ‘It’s something over there, it has no relevance to my life’ — but [it] actually does.”
Written by: Rachel Gauer — features@theaggie.org
