We have gone astray, we have led others astray

Towards the end of the first portion of the Yom Kippur Vidui - the confession - we say: תִּעְתָּֽעְנוּ: תָּעִֽינוּ; We have gone astray; we have led others astray. 

I think about this line from the Vidui often, particularly now during the Days of Awe. I think about the things I have said to others; the things I have written or shared on my social media, and whether I have done things that have led others astray. Have I given someone bad advice? Have I said “don’t worry about it” when I knew there was reason to worry about it? Have I shared information about a local or global issue that caused others to form incorrect and/or harmful beliefs? 

I have very little doubt that at some point over the last 12 months, there was an occasion where I led others astray. And I can say with certainty that there have been times over the past 12 months when I have gone astray. While in the Vidui, these lines refer to following the teachings of the Torah, I like to think of them more broadly. For me, going astray includes failing to uphold my own values - which in my case, do involve many of those enshrined in the Halacha (Jewish laws) - and my responsibilities to the world in which I live. Have there been inconsistencies between the values I project to the world and my own actions? Have I caused others to do things that I believe to be harmful or which I know pull them away from their core beliefs and values? 

I am a firm believer in the importance of reducing our personal waste production as part of the effort to address climate change, and I could spend the rest of this piece attempting to calculate how many disposable coffee cups I have thrown out over the past year while COVID-19 restrictions prevented me from bringing in my reusable cup, but did not prevent me from making the decision to buy a coffee, despite being well aware of the consequences. 

While excess waste production is one way we are going astray, another is through our constant connection to our laptops and smartphones that allow us to consume, create, and share content, and form opinions far beyond the reaches of the social norms we have lived under for so long. 

Six years ago, we joked about statements proclaiming “alternative facts” and that long-standing credible news outlets are repositories of “fake news”. The result was a social schism and that made our political affiliations the beginning and end of our relationships. Nine months ago, we underestimated the sincerity and scope of scepticism in the fidelity of the 2020 electoral process, resulting in an attempted insurrection and 138 injuries, five deaths, and four suicides. Despite the success in Federal court of Fox News’ argument that no reasonable person would believe Tucker Carlson, seemingly reasonable people were indeed led astray by Tucker Carlson, and that is the point. We each have the capability to lead others astray.  

For the past five years, we have witnessed the rise of the misinformation age, a phenomenon that has increased in speed 100-fold since our social interactions became primarily digital. Facts are no longer facts. Nothing is objective. Reality is in the eye of the beholder. In the 1968 film “A Lion in Winter”, Katherine Hepburn says to Peter O’Toole “What facts, my dear. We have so many?” It is not only that we have so many facts, but that the ones upon which we have formed our core beliefs are increasingly dichotomous and irreconcilable. 

We live in an increasingly digital world - anyone like me who has had to increase the strength of their glasses over the past 18 months should be well aware of that. And our online interactions are not and have never been without consequence. This is not a new revelation; it’s something myself and others have written about countless times before, but in the spirit of Vidui and of thinking critically about how we have gone astray and led others astray, it is worthwhile to consider once again. 

The most recent Pew survey data found that some 53% of Americans primarily get their news from social media. Particularly concerning, is that among 18-29-year-olds, 42% listed social media as their primary source of current events as compared to 25% of 30-49-year-olds, and 15% of 50-64-year-olds. It perhaps goes without saying at this point, that social media is not harmless. There are countless studies and articles discussing the link between social media and mental health, and I would be inclined to believe that our use of social media to lead others astray plays a role. Ask yourself: does your Instagram present the reality of your daily life? Mine doesn’t. Mine is full of photos with my dog, travel, ballet, and outings, when in reality my days are consumed with early morning runs and late nights typing out notes from textbooks. I project the life I want others to see, and I lead them to believe that third-year law school is much rosier and more relaxed than it truly is, which could potentially result in a student incurring the expense and time of applying to or beginning law school without accurate information about what it is, and if it’s what they want. 

While social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter, can be an excellent tool for sharing articles and commentary on articles, it is not a good tool for vetting the sources that the authors of those articles relied on in coming to their conclusions, and perpetuates algorithmic indoctrination. 

Social media is designed to keep us engaged, and in order to do this, the algorithm will prompt us towards posts, accounts, links, and videos that are both aligned with what we have previously consumed, and increasingly more extreme. If you want to see what this looks like, go on YouTube and watch the footage of the JFK assasination, then count how many times you click on a suggested video until you run into a conspiracy theory - it’s fewer than you think. These videos, like articles about the dangers of the MMR vaccine, 9/11 being an inside job, and claiming pro-choice individuals want to provide access to abortion at 40 weeks, are presented as fact - as the truth that conventional news sources are keeping from us. The more this content is shared, the deeper it pulls those who come into contact with it into an echo chamber divorced from the reality we once believed was common to all of us. For some, this leads to comment threads and chat rooms focused on the indoctrination of emerging adults into extremist ideologies, from the right and the left. We have stood by and allowed this algorithmic indoctrination to happen to our friends and family members, and in some instances, we have been complicit in its success. We are forgetting how to discuss our differences, and falling into the trap of viewing all perspectives which deviate from our own as a personal attack. 

As we enter another year of decreased social contact, it is easy to disconnect from the humanity of those we interact with or speak about publicly online. Even writing for an audience has the aura of shouting into the void, disconnected from the impact on readers. But of course, that is not the case. The dissemination of ideas through the internet is among the most prominent ways we are led astray and lead others astray. We allow ourselves to fall into rabbit holes without looking back to see how we got there, and we pull others with us in the process. 

While the focus of this piece, and other similar commentary I have provided in the past, is primarily on Western countries, and North America in particular, this is a global issue. In the past year, the Chinese government has closed off access to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram during periods of political upheaval, such as the protests in Hong Kong, through the Great Firewall, which has long been used to limit access to information. The effect of these actions is to further misinformation about domestic and international issues. This results in the broader dissemination of misinformation. 

We continue to live in unprecedented times for so many reasons, and now more than ever, the choices we make, the facts we share with others, and choose to believe ourselves have the power to cause real and irreparable harm. As we prepare to ask for another year, and make apologies for who we were in the year that has come to a close, perhaps it is worth taking a moment to reflect on how we have engaged with the internet, and how we have allowed others to engage with the internet in ways that have harmed themselves and others. 

We have gone astray, whether this process is isolated to the last five years or has been going on for much longer remains open to debate. But we have gone astray, and we have without question, by our words and our actions, led others astray.