This is Democracy – Episode 28: Social Media

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Intro voices: “This is Democracy,” a podcast that explores the interracial, intergenerational, and intersectional unheard voices living in the world’s most influential democracy.
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Jeremi Suri: Welcome to our new episode of “This is Democracy.” Today, we are going to discuss
social media, which is in the news all the time, as a source of news, as a target of news, and as a topic of conversation. And we are fortunate today, we have two students who have spent a lot of time thinking about these issues. And who bring the kind of expertise we need to this discussion, because they are primary users and thought leaders on these issues, on how social media affects our world, and will affect our world. First we have Aurin Bagchi, who is a marketing major here at UT, and he’s a student in my US History course, and a very articulate and accomplished young man. Aurin, welcome.
Aurin Bagchi: Thank you for that introduction.
Jeremi: And then we also have, even more impressive, or don’t get too excited, we have Lexi Marie Seay. And Lexi is a student at Texas State University, and she works here in Austin, and she is an electronic communications major.
Lexi: Yes.
Jeremi: And so she really brings an intellectual side to this discussion as well. Lexi nice to have you here.
Lexi: I’m excited to be here.
Jeremi: So before we go to our guests, we have as always, our scene setting poem, from Mister Zachary Suri, what’s the title of your poem today?
Zachary Suri: “A Social Species.”
Jeremi: A social species, let’s hear it.
Zachary Suri: We are a social species, a species dibbed and dabbled in the bubbling sauce of communication. The voices sent through satellites to spots halfway around the world. We are a social species surrounded by social media, a medium that communicates through a social code of a social web across a social globe. And we are a social species. We cannot sleep silent without the noise of the radio, the television, the beep bippity boop of the cellphone on the bed stand. And we are a social species among a sea of social signals across societal seas. Of people that sing the songs that slip off the tongues of thousands to be lost a week, a day, and an hour. We are a social species living on edge for the next flip of a bottle, dabbing of the arms, the fanciful Mick Jaggering dance moves. We dream in ancient trends and roofs raised and Gangnam Styled, but we wake to the latest bounce across the path of fame, found, forgotten. We are a social species. Our secretive missions, the wonderful truths of our lives, are the memes that curl in every web of the interwebbed interwebs of the thousand, thousand, thousands. And we are a species wrapped in wraps of flammable stings and modern love, and we are a social species, socializing in socialist of social disorder. Among the ever increasing social society of a social species, wandering through the webs of sociality.
Jeremi: I love the humor and all the references to Mick Jagger, and rap, and Gangnam Style in that, Zachary. What is your poem about?
Zachary Suri: Well, my poem is really just talking about how much we communicate, but it’s also pointing out how absurd some of the ways that we communicate are. But in a way it’s also poking fun of those who mock social media, and the way that young people use it.
Jeremi: Right.
Zachary Suri: And how absurd what they think about it is. And what lack of knowledge older people tend to have about social media.
Jeremi: Right, so it’s sort of the absurdity of those criticizing the absurdity.
Zachary Suri: Yeah.
Jeremi: That’s great. That’s a good spot to turn to our experts here. Lexi, first of all, how do you use social media?
Lexi: I use it to escape my realities sometimes.
Jeremi: Okay.
Lexi: To take a break. I use it to procrastinate too often. But I’m also trying to use it to connect, you know, you go on social media because you want to be heard in some way, and you want to be validated for each platform, you know? For Instagram, you want to be validated that “I am appealing.” For Twitter, you want to be validated that “I am funny, and that I have something relevant to say.” And for Facebook, you just want to be there to connect with family, really. So each platform there is something that you seek that is different in each one.
Jeremi: Right, so there is social value, for you in each of these things.
Lexi: Yes.
Jeremi: Aurin, how about you?
Aurin: I agree, I think there is social value, I personally have stopped using Instagram, although I’d say, yeah, I do enjoy using Snapchat. I really like the story feature, because while some people will post a story, are you aware of what a story is?
Jeremi: A little bit, yeah.
Aurin: Yeah, so basically, you can post something, and for 24 hours it’s on everyone’s feed, and you can see what it is. And I think a lot of people use that as like – say they’re going out on 6th Street, right? They’ll take a story of their friends, and other friends taking a shot or something.
Jeremi: Right, right.
Aurin: With me, like if I see something cool in West Campus – I’m really into design and architecture, and I’m in no way trying to say I’m more intellectual than the people who do this stuff on 6th Street, but if I see something cool, if I see something significant to me, then I’ll post that on my story.
Jeremi: Right.
Aurin: And then for Facebook, I think for me, it’s really just been a bulletin board. Like I think I use the Facebook events more than anything.
Jeremi: Gotcha. Just to keep up with what’s going on.
Oran: Just to keep up with what’s going on, yeah.
Jeremi: And Aurin, you had said to me when we were discussing, this topic, that you and your friends have had challenges, managing your time. You said you decided not to stay on Instagram. Tell us about that.
Aurin: Yeah, and that was honestly one of the best decisions I made last semester. I feel like I just removed a whole irrelevant part in my brain that – that used to be very important to me. Where I was so concerned with people’s relationships, I was so concerned with like which girl was going to formal with who –
Jeremi: Right.
Aurin: Which event they were going to, that kind of stuff. But I think once you strip that away, you become much more aware of the things you’re trying to achieve in your life, and also more – yeah, yeah.
Jeremi: And so is it just that Instagram was distracting you from other things?
Aurin: It was distracting, but I think it’s also toxic.
Jeremi: How so?
Aurin: In several ways. I think first of all, Instagram is simply just like a collection of all of your and your follower’s highlights. It’s like your highlight reel, right? Instagram to me is kind of just like a PR platform that you use for each person. Or that each person uses, excuse me. And, oh, I forgot what the question –
Jeremi: So what did you find toxic about it?
Aurin: Oh, what I found toxic about most of all was what I was saying, the highlight reel. Where, you know, I’ll go on Lexi’s Instagram, and say she posts a picture where she was at some event. She gets three hundred likes. I went to the same event, I posted a picture with my friends, and I only got thirty likes. Well, now I’m sad. Lexi has more credibility, Lexi has more –
Jeremi: She seems more popular.
Aurin: She seems more popular, exactly, yeah.
Jeremi: Right.
Aurin: Which obviously is so superficial, but I mean that’s why Instagram works, because of the likes and the feedback you’re getting from the posts and whatnot.
Jeremi: Sure, sure. Lexi, do you still use Instagram?
Lexi: I do. I actually had no social media throughout high school. And when I came to college I was on the pom squad, and they made it a requirement that I had to get Facebook, and that I had to get Instagram, and that we had to have a workshop of how your feed should look, and it was so funny to me, because I’ve never had to have an official workshop, and they were like “This is the time that you should post.”
Jeremi: That is crazy.
Lexi: And they just— they were baffled by the fact that I didn’t have it. And I was just like “Oh, I mean, I have Twitter, that’s about it,” and they were like “Well, you need to get on that.” So that’s why I created it. I didn’t even create it. My friends created it for me. What was the question, I’m sorry.
Jeremi: So you’ve stayed on Instagram.
Lexi: Yes.
Jeremi: And what do you see as some of the challenges in your life, and managing your social media?
Lexi: I think before I had social media, I was more confident in myself, and the fact that I wasn’t constantly thinking about what others are going to think of me. Or if I was at an event, I was at the event, I was in the moment.
Jeremi: Right.
Lexi: But now I think about “Oh, I want my followers to see what I’m doing.” And I know it’s kind of funny to say this, but sometimes it’s true, like “If you didn’t post it, did you go?” You hear that all the time. And it’s sad that that’s what I think about now. And I try to— when I do go to music festivals, if I’m traveling, I do make the conscious decision of putting it away, because are you really there if you’re looking at it through a screen? So I’ve had to put myself in check a lot of times. I think one of the challenges is safety. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the show “You,” on Netflix.
Jeremi: I’m not.
Lexi: It’s this psychological thriller about this stalker who falls in love with this girl, and he’s able to stalk her so easily because of social media.
Jeremi: Sure.
Lexi: And we forget that— how easy it is, and you know we think it’s like this show, it’s like this romantic thriller, but really, it’s a twenty first century horror story. All of my social media is set on public, I’m on the snap map, which shows your location 24/7 to your friends on Snapchat.
Jeremi: Wow.
Lexi: It shows you when you’re in the car, and you don’t really think about it. You just put these accounts on public because you want to be seen. And it’s like okay, I’m here, I’m seen, but that can be taken from the wrong person.
Jeremi: So why do you do it then? I mean these are real security risks you have to think about.
Lexi: Yeah, I didn’t really think about it until I watched that show, and I still haven’t changed it. Um.
Jeremi: Is it an addiction? I mean many think of social media and apps.
Aurin: Oh absolutely.
Lexi: Oh yes, yes. I mean part of my nighttime ritual is scrolling Twitter before I go to sleep.
Jeremi: You too Aurin? Your nighttime ritual is reading history before you go to sleep?
Aurin: (Laughing) Yeah, exactly, exactly. But like you were saying how it’s addicting, that’s exactly true. I mean when you— when you’re on Facebook and you see the globe popping up, two or three notifications and there’s like, bum, sound, that’s like, that sound gives you an instant dopamine hit.
Jeremi: Sure, sure.
Aurin: Right, so you immediately get this small amount of satisfaction just from this little thing on Facebook.
Jeremi: Sure, someone cares about me—
Aurin: Someone cares about me, exactly. “Wow, I’m relevant.” And so Facebook and these other platforms basically serve you these
treats in the form of likes and comments for minutes on their site, on their platform, and also for your data, which they then sell, and that’s how they make money, but yeah, it is, it is definitely addicting.
Jeremi: So how have you two learned to manage? What do you do to keep yourself secure? To make sure that you have the time for your work that you have to do at school and elsewhere? And also, to make sure that you’re not addicted. Obviously you’ve made some choices, and you’ve thought this through. What have been some of the hard choices? Lexi?
Lexi: There is some times during the month where I’ll just like leave my phone at home, and I will try to be unplugged for like a week or so. Just so I can kind of reconnect with people, because whenever you’re on the bus, whenever you’re going to school, you’re not making those small talk, you’re not “Hey, how’s the weather?” “Hey, you know, how’s your day going?” You’re just so used to just scrolling on your phone, and for a generation that’s so social, we really aren’t in the grand scheme of things, so I do try to take a break, so I can remember to be in the moment.
Jeremi: Okay, okay. Aurin?
Aurin: Last week actually, on Facebook I recently downloaded this like I guess plug in for Facebook where it basically, if you’re on your laptop, you can’t actually see your newsfeed, you can only access your messages, which has actually been very, very beneficial for me. I find myself a lot more productive on my laptop now, where before if I’m writing a history essay, for example, I’m thinking “Oh, I’m tired of writing Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address.
Jeremi: How could you ever be tired?
Aurin: And instead, I’m going to go on Facebook, and I’m going to scroll through my newsfeed, which is meaningless, but it’s giving me, you know I see these notifications, I want that dopamine hit, before I continue this essay.
Jeremi: Sure, sure.
Aurin: I want to feel good about myself.
Jeremi: So part of what you’re doing is limiting your distractions?
Aurin: Exactly, yeah, yeah.
Jeremi: And what about concerns about fake news? And people – not just creating insecure environments and things of that, and surveying you, but also, propaganda, I mean this is a real concern, that social media— on social media, anyone can say anything, and it can be someone who looks like they know what they’re talking about, and they don’t. Or, it could be a Russian troll, or— do you guys care about politics? Do you care about these things? How do you think about that?
Lexi: I used to – I still work at the radio station at Texas State campus, and I was in the news department, and obviously during our news cast, we have to tweet some things, put that information out there, and we have to make sure that we are in check, and we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard, because it is such an issue. And a lot of the times, we’ll even have people who will troll us and attack us and say something that’s wrong, or you know, just try to come up with these lies, and we have to know how to react in a proper way. We have to make sure that we’re fact checking all the time. So in a way, I think it’s better, because it holds us to a higher standard when we are producing the news.
Jeremi: But what about when you read sources from elsewhere? Are you able to differentiate if it’s a reputable source? A credible source?
Lexi: I like to think I can, but a lot of the times, I’ve learned not to get my news from Twitter and Facebook anymore. I do have my own apps of like Wall Street Journal, and CNN and what have you. I try to make sure I go to credible sources, because a lot of times, like you said, anybody can say whatever they want on Twitter, and they can make it sound convincing.
Jeremi: Right, Right. Aurin?
Aurin: I completely agree. I also think the reason that people buy into fake news, and getting trolled, and whatnot, is because of the amount of value they have towards the platforms. Where yeah, they see someone posting something or sharing some political post, and because you know obviously you’re not supposed to believe everything on the internet, but when you’re going through the newsfeed on Facebook, and when you have so much value towards Facebook, it becomes more credible towards you.
Jeremi: Right, right. It’s interesting, I was reading some surveys the other day, and it seems as if your generation is much savvier, not about controlling your time, but about really differentiating between serious news and fake news. That older users of the internet tend to believe more of what they see on the internet.
Aurin: Really? That’s interesting.
Jeremi: And that your generation, because you’re accustomed to the workings of social media, and you understand the production as well as the consumption of what’s on there, that you’re actually more educated consumers. Do you agree with that? When you talk to your friends and others, do you think so?
Aurin: Yeah. I think, I mean I would like to think that. I would like to think that my friends and I are able to differentiate like what’s true and what’s not on social media, definitely.
Jeremi: Just because you know that oftentimes, people are just putting up whatever they want to put up.
Aurin: Yeah, and I think pretty much anyone, or at least most of my friends, Lexi, definitely are, we’re all aware of this.
Jeremi: Right.
Aurin: So I think we don’t take it too seriously, really.
Jeremi: Gotcha, gotcha. Well we actually have some additional student questions along these very lines— we had a lot of student questions; students were really interested in this topic.
Aurin: Okay, nice.
Jeremi: Our first one is from Avery Lewis, let’s hear what Avery has to say.
Avery Lewis: Do you think social media will eventually become the ultimate medium and soul for news?
Jeremi: Lexi, what do you think?
Lexi: I think it has the potential to, just because it is just becoming so much a part of our lives, it’s quicker too. I mean, our generation, we don’t really take the time to sit down and watch the local news, we’re so used to streaming services, that’s how we get our entertainment. So I could definitely see how that could come to be, but I’m scared of the repercussions of that. So even though I see the potential in it, I don’t know if I would want that for our future.
Jeremi: Is it possible, you think that traditional news sources like The New York Times will become primarily social media sources?
Lexi: I think they have to or otherwise they’re going to get pushed out by other news that aren’t so credible.
Jeremi: Right, Aurin, what do you think?
Aurin: Yeah, like, what Lexi was saying, I don’t really watch TV too much.
Jeremi: That’s a good thing!
Aurin: (laughs) And if anything I just go on the news app on my phone.
Jeremi: Right, right.
Aurin: Now to answer Avery’s question though, like, will that become the main medium? I don’t really know, like for example my father— and my father is definitely not the only one who does this, when he goes back home, he’s watching CNN.
Jeremi: Right.
Aurin: Likewise, there are also people who will go back home and just watch Fox News for hours. So I don’t think that segment of people who follow the news on TV would stop watching TV, although I do think social media’s influence on people’s perception of the news and the information they get about the news will definitely change.
Jeremi: Sure, there’s certainly the repetity in which social media operates and the circulation of images.
Aurin: Yeah, yeah.
Jeremi: Right. Do— Aurin, do you and your friends read newspapers?
Aurin: No.
Jeremi: No? Lexi?
Lexi: No.
Aurin: Besides the Texas Tribune. (laughs)
Jeremi: Right, which is online, right?
Aurin: Yeah, which actually is online, that’s true.
Jeremi: Right, I mean, Lexi, you mentioned the Wall Street Journal app— I imagine you guys read The New York Times app, things like that, right? But you don’t actually read a physical newspaper?
Lexi: No, it’s all in my phone.
Aurin: No, never.
Jeremi: That’s interesting, that’s a real change.
Zachary: What kind of advice would you give to young people or to parents of young people who are just like getting started on social media? Because— like if you were to redo it, what would you do differently?
Aurin: I— if I had any advice for you, I’d say to get rid of it— No, I’m kidding. (laughs) I think if anything, just be aware of this discussion and these topics because I think it’s really important to be cognizant of this in a way that, you know, “Oh my best friend just posted a picture at a party that I just posted a picture that I was at and he got more likes, he has more followers, so he’s better than me.” Well that’s just not true and, like I said earlier, it’s just very on the surface. So If I’ve— yeah, that’s I guess that’s my advice to you, is to not really take it too seriously and just to not take those comments and likes too seriously, the number of followers you have, and really, you know, use social media to represent who you are and not just, like, what your highlights are, if that makes sense.
Lexi: I would just be aware of who you follow. You get to control what your timeline looks like and who’s going to be influencing you and I think a lot of the time, like you said with you, you’re not posting on your story of you taking shots downtown at 6th street, you’re looking around you, you’re sharing what your eyes are seeing with your followers. So try to go for those people, people that you want to be influenced by because ultimately it’s your timeline, you get to decide.
Jeremi: And don’t let the social media define who you are, what I’m hearing Lexi and Aurin say, right? Is— well, do you want to say more about this?
Aurin: No, no— sorry, I just— that’s very well said, don’t let social media define who you are, definitely.
Jeremi: That you want to use it for your personality not to make your personality fit in.
Aurin: Exactly.
Jeremi: We have another question, this one is from Abigail Nichols.
Abigail Nichols: Will social media’s impact likely grow to be beneficial, or increasingly negative on youth?
Aurin: Oh, that’s a good question.
Jeremi: Yeah, what do you think, Aurin?
Aurin: I think it’ll be more detrimental to youth, honestly.
Jeremi: You think so?
Aurin: I think so.
Jeremi: Why?
Aurin: I think— because I mean it already kind of is. Even, you know, the question was kind of directed towards youth but even as college students, like, we hold so much value towards our presentations of ourselves on Instagram and other people’s Instagram as well, like when you meet someone and you follow them, you know, you’re immediately scrolling through their feed to see the type of person they are, but it’s really just their highlights. I don’t think it really represents who they are as a person at all.
Jeremi: It’s their advertisements of themselves.
Aurin: Yes, exactly, exactly.
Jeremi: Lexi?
Lexi: I mean for me, personally, I feel pressures from social media and, you know, I have matured and I am confident in who I am. I could not imagine being in 8th grade, going through a hard time, trying to find out who I am, and then being on social media the way it is now. The sad part is that they have these— I mean for young women specifically, they have these role models, you know, like the Kardashians who put on this image of what you need to look like and what these influencers aren’t advertising is that it’s not real. This isn’t what you can achieve, it is plastic surgery, it is money, it is things that these kids don’t have access to, but they don’t connect those two and they see these as what I need to look like. And they can never achieve that, they can never achieve that image but they’re going to keep on trying and that’s really scary to think about.
Aurin: So along with— yeah along with people posting their highlights on Instagram, I think body image is a huge thing, too.
Jeremi: Yes, yes.
Aurin: So for— yeah, I mean, you know, you see a guy post a picture, you see a girl post a picture of themselves and they’re looking great and you’re thinking, “Oh, this is what I need to look like, too.”
Jeremi: Right, right.
Aurin: But I don’t know, for me, fitness was never about trying to look like someone it was— and as cliché as it sounds, it really is trying to be and present the best person that you can be.
Jeremi: Right.
Aurin: You know, it’s about you, it’s not about trying to have a big waistline like Kim Kardashian (laughs) but because of the strong value we have towards Instagram I think people start believing that.
Jeremi: Sure, sure, especially younger people who are, as Lexi said, still finding themselves.
Aurin: Yes, yeah.
Jeremi: Right? Do you find that’s the case in 8th grade, Zachary?
Zachary: I think that there’s a lot of misuse of social media in my age group. I think a lot of people just don’t understand how to use it properly, but I think part of that is just that older people and our parents sometimes dismiss it and don’t— I feel like if we focused on it more and actually and how to do it well instead of just that people are doing it badly, that would help people. Because I think part of the problem is people around me who use social media aren’t… they aren’t ready to start talking about these issues because they’ve been told for so long that they’re the problem instead of having like an actually, like, talk about the dangers, but also the benefits of social media.
Jeremi: Right, its forbidden fruit rather than something to think about and manage. So that’s actually where I wanted to go with our last question for both Lexi and Aurin, how do we think about making this something more positive in our lives? What I hear everyone saying in this conversation is that there are a lot of dangers, there are a lot of detrimental elements and those might even outweigh the positive elements, but it’s there. No one said that social media is going to go away, that we can just turn it off and in fact you gave very good reasons why, in some cases, you have to be on, right? So our podcast is on social media, right? I mean you have to be involved with this, so what are the ways that your generation is figuring out how to turn this radioactive medium into something that has a more sustainable and evergreen quality, how can we do better?
Lexi: I think the good thing about social media is that it gives you the platform to inspire somebody, it gives you the platform to share your ideas and to collaborate with people. And I also know for me, I have a lot of family oversees, I don’t get to see them very often so— and one of my cousins oversees in Spain, he is really into parkour and I get to see those videos of him doing that around the city and it does inspire me to find my own passion and to do something outside and to be active and so I think that is the benefit, to connect with people that you can’t normally see and to be inspired by people that you normally would not talk to.
Jeremi: How do you make sure that your social media is about that and not about the Kardashians and going and taking shots on 6th Street?
Lexi: Again, it’s about who you follow. You get to choose your timeline, I feel like people forget that, they forget that you are the one who constructs what your social media is going to look like. I remember talking to one of my friends, I was like, “Gosh, I’m so sick of going on Instagram and I see the same exact posts and the same exact fake filters and, you know, Instagram was originally made to be, ‘look at what my life is through my eyes’ and to see the world in a different perspective.” And she’s like, “Why doesn’t yours?” She’s like, “Mine does, mine is filled with photography, mine is filled with art,” she’s like, “you’re the one who chose to follow those people’s.” And I was like, “Wow, you are correct.” And so I did go back and I muted some people and I unfollowed some people and I think it was better for me.
Jeremi: Sure, so you have to think consciously about the community you’re building through social media, right?
Lexi: Exactly.
Jeremi: Aurin, what do you think?
Aurin: Yeah, I agree, I think Instagram was actually a great platform before for sharing ideas and to show who you are, but now it’s become more about, like, trying to give people the perception that you’re living a great life.
Jeremi: So what are some ways you try to, as Lexi said, bring your social media into a positive space, into a space that’s creative and innovative? You’re a creative person.
Aurin: Yeah and similar to Lexi, I did do some removal of friends who weren’t relevant and who also may have been a bad influence on my personal experience on Facebook, whether it be them, you know, posting something about their day, like, “Okay, no one cares if you had a bad or good day.” I mean— sorry, what I mean by that is like no one wants to see that on Facebook, or—
Jeremi: Right, right, there’s only so much you want to learn about someone’s cat or dog, right?
Aurin: (laughs) Yeah, exactly! Exactly, those, like, daily posts, “how my life is going” kind of posts. So I removed those people, I also removed people who posted a lot of political opinions and— I mean I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican, it’s just like, I’m tired of seeing that from you.
Jeremi: Right, right.
Aurin: And when you’re able to strip away those people on your platform who, I guess, make your experience on social media worse, then it becomes a much better experience and it becomes much more meaningful.
Jeremi: Right.
Aurin: Even when I did have Instagram, I did go through a phase where I removed like a bunch of people and it would just be like my top friends and that was a lot more important to me.
Jeremi: Sure, sure. It seems to me this is a historical lesson from all technologies, right? That when a new technology becomes available, a car, television, whatever it is, we tend to initially become enthralled with the technology and the technology dictates what we do.
Aurin: Yes.
Jeremi: The technology defines us and it usually takes another generation, and this would be your generation, of the second-time users in a sense, second generation of users, to actually realize that no, this technology needs to be made to work for us, not for us to work for it. And part of that is about being disciplined and thoughtful about the communities we’re connecting and not connecting with and the ways we’re using this technology.
Aurin: Yeah.
Jeremi: And it does strike me that both Aurin and Lexi, and Zachary— that all three of you are much more thoughtful about this than most people are who either decide to use it all the time or not use it at all. And I think that’s crucial. Last question for you, Zachary, do you see social media becoming something that’s going to be more and more part of your life, or do you think it’s something that you, as someone who doesn’t use a lot of it, that you’re going to try to stay away from?
Zachary: Well, I think that a good thing is that I think it’s become a lot more acceptable to not use social media. I feel like even just a year or two ago, it was more of something that everyone— like to be friends with people you had to, but I think now it’s sort of something that is a choice and people can make decisions and not really worry about repercussions that would hurt them socially. And I think that that’s really important, that we make it a choice and we help people understand how to use it properly.
Jeremi: I think that’s a perfect place for us to close this really interesting and thoughtful conversation. Our program and democracy are about making choices, right? Our democracy thrives on the choices we make as citizens and we often make incorrect choices, such as having too much social media, but then we learn from those. And democracy is about a constant, as Franklin Roosevelt would say, a constant experiment with the choices we make in our lives. Aurin and Lexi, thank you so much for being with us today.
Aurin: Thank you, it was a pleasure.
Lexi: Thank you for having me.
Jeremi: And, Zachary, thank you as always. Thank you for joining us for this episode of “This is Democracy.”
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Intro voices: This podcast is produced by the Liberal Arts Development Studio and the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. The music in this episode was written and recorded by Harrison Lemke and you can find his music at HarrisonLemke.com. Subscribe and stay tuned for a new episode every Thursday, featuring new perspectives on democracy.
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