TED Tech How to stop doomscrolling — and what to do instead? (w/ Katherine Cross) | from How to Be a Better Human
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Mar 27, 2026 Katherine Cross, researcher of online harassment and author of Log Off, studies how social media shapes political behavior. She discusses why social platforms often feel political but cannot replace collective civic work. Short-form virality, design affordances, and different kinds of online harassment get examined. Practical fixes like platform friction and moving conversations to durable spaces are explored.
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Politics Is Social Work Not Viral Posts
- Politics is the social negotiation over power and resources at every scale, requiring sustained social work and networks.
- Cross emphasizes local examples like neighborhood decisions and library book bans to show politics is inherently communal.
Why Social Media Is Anti Political
- Cross labels social media 'anti-political' because it demobilizes deliberation while tricking users into believing they're doing civic work.
- That illusion produces a lively public square but little real-world change.
Loud Failures Outshine Quiet Political Successes
- Viral, attention-grabbing failures overshadow quiet governmental or civic successes, deepening public cynicism.
- Cross notes the Biden administration's quiet policy wins received little online recognition compared with viral outrage.
