UFS “Education for the Future”: The Complex Political Impact of Digitalization and How to Shape it

Over the past two decades, digital platforms have reshaped public discourse: Their design and algorithms now determine what billions of people see; attention has become a scarce and fiercely contested resource and thanks to generative AI, content can be produced more easily than ever before. This talk will explore what computational social science actually knows about the complex relationship between these technological changes and shifts in political behavior and attitudes. We will discuss how the attention economy reinforces psychological tendencies and how visibility and engagement are skewed in favor of divisive rhetoric and populist actors. Based on a systematic review of hundreds of studies on digital media and political impacts, I will show that the effects of digital media are heterogeneous and context-dependent: Some patterns, such as rising political participation, appear promising, while others, such as declining trust and increasing polarization, are more concerning. I will then turn to the question of what can be done: behavioral interventions such as building resilience against manipulation, self-help tools that support people in regulating their own smartphone use, and platform design decisions that could better support autonomous, informed decision-making.

Register at: umfragenup.uni-potsdam.de/educationforthefuture_webinar/

The Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants the day before the event.