The science fiction author Neal Stephenson coined the term “facebooked” to describe post-industrial societies that have their traditional media outlets destroyed by digital platforms.
Because the algorithms curating the platforms optimise for virility and engagement rather than objectivity or truth, they degrade our public sphere and consensus reality – a shared, baseline agreement about what’s happening in the nation, and why – breaks down. Normal politics becomes impossible.
We got facebooked good and hard during the pandemic, with the rise of the anti-vax movement and the occupation of Parliament grounds, but normal life resumed after the lockdowns when everyone logged off and went back
