Incubated by the Algorithm: Generations Unprepared to Disagree

Productive disagreement is at the heart of most innovation, good decision-making and leadership. The ability to hold a conflicting view to someone standing in front of you—or even to hold conflicting views within yourself—and engage in mutually challenging but fruitful dialogue is essential for improving ourselves, our ideas and communities at large.?

But what happens when unproductive disagreement becomes the norm? When debates in the comment sections become an onslaught of personal attacks? When even those claiming to debate the ‘issues’ too often default to attacking the person rather than enquiring about the ‘idea’, taking to cheap tactics, aggression or avoidance as their cheat sheet to winning the argument??

What happens is that our minds, public rhetoric and democracy narrow, none of which is good news.

How Did We Get Here?

As conflicts rage, economies strain and the true potential impacts of climate change become publicly known, society loses touch with its ‘best self’. As our world feels increasingly unsafe, the desire to embed ourselves within tighter and ‘more protected’ spaces increases, and we seek to elevate our sense of belonging and safety within the group. On the surface, this sounds natural and harmless, however, this instinctual response in practice is fertile ground for tribalism and ‘us vs them’ mentalities.?

Pair this with our frazzled adrenal systems, courtesy of our ‘always online’ lifestyle, the incessant roll of notifications that leaves us in a constant state of alertness, and the increasing popularity of questioning whether ‘World War 3 is imminent’, and it is no wonder that we are not bringing our ‘best selves’ to the table when it comes to productive debate.

This then plays out in our democracies, seeing partisan conflicts on the rise since 2021, a development that Thomas Carothers has highlighted damages all institutions essential to democracy. The results? A gridlocked legislature and polarised perspectives as we retreat to our tribes.

Building the Skills to Turn This Tide

Within this context, improving our capability and standards for constructive debate will not happen by accident. This is particularly true given the growing presence of social media in our daily lives. 62% of people globally, and 78% of Australians, consistently digest information curated for them by the algorithm. While the now infinite availability of information could serve as a perspective enhancer, this information system is not designed to challenge us or broaden our minds. Instead, it feeds us content that we will resonate with and affirms our sense of the world, keeping us engaged and online. As a consequence, this algorithm creates a quietly shrinking echo chamber, leaving us more and more isolated from divergent points of view. This happens bit by bit as social-learning biases are exploited, elevating prestigious, ingroup, moral and emotional (‘PRIME’) information used to “promote conflict and misinformation rather than cooperation and collective problem-solving.” To ground this even more in the practical realities, let’s play this out: we have millions of people ‘following’ and affirming those that they agree with, all watching the same videos, performing pre-choreographed dances or responding to trending prompts that only span a matter of seconds before the viewer moves on. In addition to this, the audience and algorithm reward drama and shock value, deflating the valuation of nuanced discussion. In this environment, the less tantalizing endeavour of measured debate is entirely suffocated, and the skills required to foster this offline are stifled.?

When we realise that these are the side effects of the world’s most popular pastime—totalling an average of 8? hours per day for teenagers— it is no wonder that we are losing the mental muscles required to sit in the discomfort of productive disagreement.?

What We Need, Now More Than Ever

Our critical thinking, appetite for constructive debate and personal curiosity have never been more essential, yet they are under siege.? While we have historically encountered the natural ‘focusing’ of people's opinions as they age, we now face the narrowing of the minds of emerging generations, establishing this a challenge that every generation must address head-on.

We must treat these skills like the mental muscles they are and build strength over time. If we fail to do so, surrendering to the dopamine drip-feed of social media and clickbait, we will face the hard truth of ‘use it or lose it’. But how do we build these muscles??

1. Develop our curiosity and seek the nuance or perspective that might not be presented to us. A practice I enjoy that aids this is to ‘reverse Google, ’ a belief I hold. I proactively seek out the rationales of those who oppose my current perspective with genuine curiosity.
2. Do not expect to be naturally good at constructive debate. It is not in our nature and is a mental muscle to be built and a skill to be practised. We must balance being kind to ourselves on this journey with persisting in pursuing improvement.?
3. Proactively seek the opportunity to have productive dialogue with those different to you and approach these interactions with a clear distinction between person and idea. An objection to an idea need not be an objection to the individual.

In a chapter of history where we are continuously funnelled into shrinking echo chambers, we must either swim against the current or change the tide to forge a path in the right direction. This is a personal choice and investment that each individual must make because the system as it stands will not do this for us

.