They also touched on the balance between politics and religion, AI regulation and the importance of local media. “And partly it’s because of social media, not entirely but partly, because we have atomized our attention spans through social media,” Auchincloss said. “We’re not delivering on the promises that we’ve made to people.”Both politicians spoke in favor of temperance when it comes to social media and advocated for a public health approach to social media, similar to tobacco and alcohol. “And yet, sadly, it’s opened the door to all kinds of misinformation.”He echoed the concern about the extinction of local media. “It isn’t so much that the national media is as skewed now as it is incompetent,” he said.