POLITICS BY TWITTER: POLITICAL COMMUNICATION, DIGITAL TECHNOLIOGY AND THE PURSUIT OF COMMON INTERESTS

In his recent Farewell Address US President Barack Obama remarked that if we want to improve our political environment and accomplish significant political ends we need to stop attacking one another on Twitter and on-line, and converse with one another face-to-face. We here explore the implication of Obama’s comment that technology is currently an obstacle in political communication. We further explore the position that the strongest ground for political activity, especially democratic political activity, is the identification and pursuit of common interests within one’s community and across borders. In the end, there is no reason to think that digital technology is necessarily detrimental to useful political engagement and communication with one another. That we often use it detrimentally contributes to misunderstanding and social divisions. More genuine communication in the sense of engagement through shared meanings is critical and a necessary condition of experience and growth, both individual and social. Such communication, digital or otherwise, is enhanced through the pursuit of common interests.