The dawn of the internet and the advent of social media are events that have quite literally shaped history, and like most historical events, they have produced innumerable good and bad results.
From a political perspective, the internet and social media have been revolutionary, and have produced many benefits. They allow public representatives’ policies to be promoted in a way easily accessible to all. Politicians can now reach their voters directly like never before. Conversely, voters can communicate their thoughts directly to their politicians with ease, allowing people to express their opinions and critiques en masse with hardly any effort required.
This being said, there are undoubtedly negative effects on the political landscape caused by the rise of social media. One of the worst, in my opinion, is that of oversaturation.
Put simply, we are hearing too much from politicians. There was a time when politicians did not have the ability to instantaneously send out their thoughts to everyone in the world. In order to express themselves, they had to make a public speech, or appear on television, radio, or in the newspaper. These were really the only ways to project one’s voice across the entire country. And while the press did the same basic thing as social media might – spread a message far and wide – there is still a great difference between it and social media.
Appearing live on air, or in written word in a paper, is no small thing, even today. It first requires one to be in a specific place at a specific time, and presenting oneself appropriately. More importantly, both require thought and preparation.
The rise of social media has prompted in people a serious lack of consideration over what they say. There used to be a general precept that one should be extremely cautious putting anything in writing. This was good advice even before the internet made everything accessible and immortal. By contrast, social media’s main goal is to make you contribute as much as possible often as possible. People now spend hours every day commenting on social media, with little to no thought put into what they say beforehand.
As experience amply demonstrates, little preparation is needed to tweet your opinion on X. In times past, people (and especially politicians) were significantly more careful about what they said when it was being broadcast. Now, our politicians all have social media accounts, and seem to feel compelled to post on them daily. The result is content devoid of thought.
Let us take a recent example. A few months ago, Simon Harris, sometimes called the “TikTok Tánaiste/Taoiseach”, posted an image of himself grinning into his phone camera, donning a merchandised bucket hat and sunglasses at night, with the lights of the Dublin Oasis concert stage shining in the background.
So, the average teenage girl concert selfie, right? What’s the issue? While there’s nothing objectively wrong with the photo, the issue was the fact that Harris chose to post it for everyone to see. He came under a firestorm of controversy over it, as it so happened that this was coming just after the untimely death of a nine-year-old scoliosis sufferer, Harvey Morrisson Sherratt, who had been unable to access timely care for his condition. Harris had promised in 2017 that children suffering from scoliosis would not wait any longer than four months for treatment. Harvey waited four years before his condition killed him. But in lighter news, Simon had a blast at Oasis, and in the end, that’s all that really matters isn’t it?
Harris is, I am afraid, terminally online. As a result, things probably move very quickly into the realm of “old news”, and so he sees no issue with posting a photo of himself enjoying a concert while a significant portion of the country is still processing the death of a young child – a death which he could have prevented. I don’t have an issue with Simon Harris going to Oasis (aside from the fact that Oasis are little better than Beatles wannabes). He is a human, and he should be allowed his leisure activities. However, it was a very poor idea to post an image of himself enjoying his luxurious lifestyle, particularly at that time. Not only this, but there is something nationally humiliating about the fact that the whole world can see one of the leaders of our country in an Oasis bucket hat, a t-shirt, and a zip-front bomber jacket. In the past, politicians would never appear anywhere without a suit and tie – now they post selfies in their favourite band merch while the country they lead teeters on the edge.
Another example from Simon Harris’ online past made the rounds of the internet a few months ago, when he jumped on the then-popular trend of asking ChatGPT to recreate photos in the style of the Japanese animation house, Studio Ghibli. The result was a fairly normal AI-generated anime-style image, until one looked closer at the text in the picture. In the original photo, Harris had been standing behind a podium with the phrase “An Ród seo Romham”, or “This Road Ahead of Me”, written across it. However, ChatGPT, in classic AI fashion, reproduced the words differently, and the final image showed the text as “An Bod So Romnain”. For those who are not familiar with the meaning of the word “bod” in Irish, simply enter it into Google Translate and you will see the problem.
This is just more proof of the blinding effects of social media. Simon Harris has admitted that his level of Irish is not particularly high (unsurprisingly, this admittance came shortly after this online incident), but he should still have the sense to scrutinise an image before he posts it for all to see. If in any doubt, he could have translated the phrase himself, or – and this is a wild suggestion – simply not jump onto a trend for seventeen-year-old Instagram addicts. We do not need to see how our country’s leader looks when animated by a popular Japanese company; we need our leader to do his job, and actually make our country better.
Both of these examples show the issue with the fast-paced modern culture. In today’s world, everyone is expected to comment on everything, and all our leaders are required to update us daily on their opinions, however boring and inconsequential these may be. Not long ago the US President Donald Trump was away from cameras and social media for a few days, and almost immediately the internet started spewing theories that he was dead or dying. President Trump is a useful example, because he is one of the few politicians who has truly mastered social media. Regardless of what you think of him, he undeniably knows how to get the right kind of attention online. Simon Harris is no President Trump.
The political class might also remember some other timeless wisdom – absence makes the heart grow fonder. To all our politicians: stop oversaturating the internet with your opinions, and maybe you will find that more people will vote for you. The less you show of yourself, the more you can cultivate an image. If politicians really want people to like them, they need to stop forcing themselves on us. If our leaders would just shut up every now and then, the country would be significantly happier with them.