Internet

From The Conversation, written by Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Using the internet makes people happier, especially seniors and those with health problems that limit their ability to fully take part in social life, says a study in Computers in Human Behavior.

The Issue: Need directions? Or a restaurant recommendation? These days, you’d probably seek help on your smartphone — a handy know-it-all device that can spit out answers to almost anything anywhere at any time. But a mere ten years ago, you may have asked someone — a neighbor, a stranger — for help. A new paper looks at the unseen social costs of this change in how we obtain information and interact with others.

A May 2014 White House report on “big data” notes that the ability to determine the demographic traits of individuals through algorithms and aggregation of online data has a potential downside beyond just privacy concerns: Systematic discrimination.

From “death panels” and WMD claims to 9/11 conspiracies and falsehoods about President Obama’s religion, misinformation and unverified assertions play an outsized role in American public life and discourse.

Studies have shown that online participation varies with income. Of course, these inequalities in online participation may be reflected in other facets of civic life, from patterns of commerce to rates of political participation.