New Poll Finds Higher Social Media Use Linked to Lower Support for Democracy

Americans who spend at least five hours a day on social media are more likely to feel heard, but also more open to political violence and less supportive of democracy, according to a major new poll released this week.

But researchers cannot say for sure whether platforms, such as Instagram and X, are the cause or the effect of those views; other academics have found social media's influence is limited.

The findings come from a nationally representative study of more than 20,000 Americans that Gallup and the Charles F. Kettering Foundation conducted last summer as part of their annual survey on the ways Americans experience democracy. Of those surveyed, more than 10 percent spend at least five hours a day on social media.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.