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I have a very modest following on Twitter, now X, but like millions, I use the platform to share personal updates, follow breaking news, public debates and funny memes. X has become a far more controversial site since Elon Musk took over in 2022 but with news of him being offered a place in president-elect Trump’s government, many celebrities, newspapers and public organisations have left the site and migrated to other sites in particular Bluesky. They claim that their values no longer align with X but I wonder how long this search for a new community of likeminded people who make you feel seen and safe, will last?

These virtual public squares are set up for connecting and networking, some use the word community to convey a sense of belonging. But a central aspect of belonging is to feel good in a place. While for many X is no longer a feelgood place, any platform which is used for information can also be used for disinformation. The addictive and fragmented news nature of social media, its potential to provide anonymity and very little accountability has emboldened people to use these platforms not only for extreme views, propaganda and disruptive ideologies, but to transform civic engagement and as is often argued, hold democracy hostage.

But social media has become an intrinsic part of our democratic landscape, and healthy democracies thrive when people come together not just to agree but more importantly to disagree, online and offline. Hollow outrage, personal attacks, and lashing out aren’t signs of healthy disagreements. Learning to disagree well can be stressful, in real life, we often try to avoid it, but it remains essential for a more meaningful existence.

Excessive communication hasn’t led to a greater fellowship but maybe its because too often, we only believe what we want to believe. There’s a Qur’anic verse which says ` if someone who wants to do evil, brings you any news, verify it so you do not harm people unknowingly, and later regret what you have done.’ I think the challenge is whether we really want to know the truth or whether its easier to believe what makes us comfortable. Social media is designed to give us digital hits, emotive content and doesn’t encourage us to verify anything. It’s a powerful tool to broadcast our views but it should also make us look within ourselves - that even though political and personal conflicts are part of our lives, how we react, what we say to each other and how we make others feel, is a moral question for us all.

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