Cargando…

A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy

One of today’s most controversial and consequential issues is whether the global uptake of digital media is causally related to a decline in democracy. We conducted a systematic review of causal and correlational evidence (N = 496 articles) on the link between digital media use and different politic...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lorenz-Spreen, Philipp, Oswald, Lisa, Lewandowsky, Stephan, Hertwig, Ralph
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9883171/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36344657
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01460-1
_version_ 1784879450245038080
author Lorenz-Spreen, Philipp
Oswald, Lisa
Lewandowsky, Stephan
Hertwig, Ralph
author_facet Lorenz-Spreen, Philipp
Oswald, Lisa
Lewandowsky, Stephan
Hertwig, Ralph
author_sort Lorenz-Spreen, Philipp
collection PubMed
description One of today’s most controversial and consequential issues is whether the global uptake of digital media is causally related to a decline in democracy. We conducted a systematic review of causal and correlational evidence (N = 496 articles) on the link between digital media use and different political variables. Some associations, such as increasing political participation and information consumption, are likely to be beneficial for democracy and were often observed in autocracies and emerging democracies. Other associations, such as declining political trust, increasing populism and growing polarization, are likely to be detrimental to democracy and were more pronounced in established democracies. While the impact of digital media on political systems depends on the specific variable and system in question, several variables show clear directions of associations. The evidence calls for research efforts and vigilance by governments and civil societies to better understand, design and regulate the interplay of digital media and democracy.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9883171
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Nature Publishing Group UK
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-98831712023-01-29 A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy Lorenz-Spreen, Philipp Oswald, Lisa Lewandowsky, Stephan Hertwig, Ralph Nat Hum Behav Article One of today’s most controversial and consequential issues is whether the global uptake of digital media is causally related to a decline in democracy. We conducted a systematic review of causal and correlational evidence (N = 496 articles) on the link between digital media use and different political variables. Some associations, such as increasing political participation and information consumption, are likely to be beneficial for democracy and were often observed in autocracies and emerging democracies. Other associations, such as declining political trust, increasing populism and growing polarization, are likely to be detrimental to democracy and were more pronounced in established democracies. While the impact of digital media on political systems depends on the specific variable and system in question, several variables show clear directions of associations. The evidence calls for research efforts and vigilance by governments and civil societies to better understand, design and regulate the interplay of digital media and democracy. Nature Publishing Group UK 2022-11-07 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC9883171/ /pubmed/36344657 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01460-1 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Lorenz-Spreen, Philipp
Oswald, Lisa
Lewandowsky, Stephan
Hertwig, Ralph
A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy
title A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy
title_full A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy
title_fullStr A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy
title_full_unstemmed A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy
title_short A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy
title_sort systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9883171/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36344657
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01460-1
work_keys_str_mv AT lorenzspreenphilipp asystematicreviewofworldwidecausalandcorrelationalevidenceondigitalmediaanddemocracy
AT oswaldlisa asystematicreviewofworldwidecausalandcorrelationalevidenceondigitalmediaanddemocracy
AT lewandowskystephan asystematicreviewofworldwidecausalandcorrelationalevidenceondigitalmediaanddemocracy
AT hertwigralph asystematicreviewofworldwidecausalandcorrelationalevidenceondigitalmediaanddemocracy
AT lorenzspreenphilipp systematicreviewofworldwidecausalandcorrelationalevidenceondigitalmediaanddemocracy
AT oswaldlisa systematicreviewofworldwidecausalandcorrelationalevidenceondigitalmediaanddemocracy
AT lewandowskystephan systematicreviewofworldwidecausalandcorrelationalevidenceondigitalmediaanddemocracy
AT hertwigralph systematicreviewofworldwidecausalandcorrelationalevidenceondigitalmediaanddemocracy