One key cause is technology's influence on our democracy, particularly over the last decade. We've seen social media platforms develop content recommendation systems that favour divisive and harmful content, particularly that experienced by elected officials, journalists and others who occupy what we can call “professions of democracy.” They are getting attacked online, and we end up seeing that material far more than any of the positive stories about civic engagement in our local communities.
We've also seen a reduction in local journalism. Local newsrooms have been decimated over the last couple of years, and all of that is changing the proportion. A lot of what we're hearing about and that sense of tension and anxiety we're experiencing right now is because the harmful material is out of proportion with our norms and it's distorting our sense of our democratic values.