ABSTRACT
In the years since the Internet became widespread, it has become commonplace to draw a distinction between "new" media based on digital technologies and the "old" media that came before it. Admittedly, the analogy between ancient (analog) and modern (digital) forms of social media is not perfect, and there are several important differences. In the modern era, similar concerns about the drawbacks of social media have been expressed by Evgeny Morozov, who notes that oppressive regimes can exploit it in several ways. In particular, it helps governments spread propaganda and makes possible new forms of surveillance, by making it easier to identify connections between activists. A rather more mundane but widely expressed concern about social media is that the ease with which anyone can now publish his or her views online, whether or Twitter, on blogs, or on comments threads, has led to a coarsening of public discourse. Racism, sexism, bigotry, incivility, and ignorance abound in many online discussion forums.
