# Sociology

## Edelman Trust Barometer

The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer is the 22nd annual trust and credibility survey.

## Extracts

> Recent academic studies suggest that social media is indeed corrosive to trust in governments, news media, and people and institutions in general.

> When our public square is governed by mob dynamics unrestrained by due process, we don’t get justice and inclusion; we get a society that ignores context, proportionality, mercy, and truth.

> John Stuart Mill said, “He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that,”

From HN:

> 1. "The human mind avoids nothing as much as thinking." -- Unknown, quoted by my dad
> 2. "We used to agree on the facts, and than argue about what do do. Now we simple disagree on the facts" -- Friend of Mine
> 3. "The quickest way to release stress hormones from the brain, unfortunately, is to 'beat' up someone else." -- My therapist
>
> (1) Leads to humans always gravitating towards an explanation that reliefs them from thinking. Simple, short, populist messages are perfect for that.
>
> (2) Has us end discussions before we even get to talk about what to do.
>
> (3) Has us make feel good when we can "beat" up someone else on social media.

## Links

* [Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/)
* [Hacker News Discussion on above article](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30992322)
* [Edelman Trust Barometer 2022](https://www.edelman.com/trust/2022-trust-barometer)
* [Working Paper: Digital Media and Democracy: A Systematic Review of Causal and Correlational Evidence Worldwide](https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/p3z9v/)