A new Pew Research Center and Rutgers University study found that social media users are less likely to share their opinions on controversial issues on and offline, according to The Associated Press.
"People do not tend to be using social media for ... important political discussion. And if anything, it may actually be removing conversation from the public sphere," said Rutgers University communications professor Keith Hampton, who helped conduct the study.
The study, published Tuesday, was based on how willing adults would be to share their opinions about the 2013 Snowden case, in which he revealed the U.S. government was monitoring phones and email records, according to the Pew Research Center. Pew claims the Snowden case was a great example of a national issue that divided Americans.
The study, which surveyed 1,801 adults, concluded that Facebook and Twitter users were more likely to stay silent when asked if widespread government surveillance is good. The researchers found a "spiral of silence," which is when people shy away from discussing controversial issues, unless they know their audience agrees.
"People who use social media are finding new ways to engage politically, but there's a big difference between political participation and deliberation," Hampton told the New York Times. "People are less likely to express opinions and to be exposed to the other side and that's exposure we'd like to see in a democracy."
Pew also found a typical Facebook user that logs into the site a few times a day "was half as likely to discuss the Snowden case at a public meeting as a non-Facebook user," AP reported. For Twitter users, that number is one-quarter as likely.
The study also found that people were less likely to share their opinions they wouldn't otherwise voice on social media. While 14 percent of Americans were unwilling to talk about the Snowden case with peers, less than one-half of the 1 percent were actually willing to talk about it on social media.
However, if Facebook users believed their Facebook friends agreed with their position, they were almost 2 times more likely to engage in conversation about it on the social media site, according to the New York Times. What is more, people with less education were more likely to share their views on Facebook, whereas those with more education were less likely to share their opinions on Facebook, but were more likely to discuss it within a group or with family and friends.
But why is this?
According to director of the Pew Research Center Internet Project, Lee Rainie, social media may be sensitizing people to various opinions.
"Because they use social media, they may know more about the depth of disagreement over the issue in their wide circle of contacts," Rainie told AP. "This might make them hesitant to speak up either online or offline for fear of starting an argument, offending, or even losing a friend."
But the study's findings are worrisome.
"A society where people aren't able to share their opinions openly and gain from understanding alternative perspectives is a polarized society," Hampton told AP.
Similarly, the New York Times wrote, "The Internet, it seems, is contributing to the polarization of America, as people surrounding themselves with people who think like them and hesitate to say anything different."
