Instead of bringing people together, social media algorithms attuned to political identity “just tear us apart,” Cox said. Cox spoke then of the role social media plays in fostering divisiveness in the country and of the need to rein it in — a view shared by Auchincloss. “I think the reason that that sense of a shared future is deteriorating is that our sense of a shared reality is deteriorating,” in large part because of social media, Auchincloss said at the event. Cox noted that social media is not the only reason for our political divisions. Auchincloss has proposed what he called a kind of social media “temperance” — not banning platforms but limiting access in the same way alcohol is restricted.