Insider Finance - Business - The real reason for polarization

Nicholas Carlson October 27, 2022

Hello, Insiders! So we’ve been sending this newsletter out for a couple of weeks now, and we want to know: how’s it going? Send us a note, if you have a couple minutes. What are you liking so far? What do you want to see more of? You can reach us at insidertoday@insider.com. But before you hit send, we’ve got a lot to cover – from the real reason that Americans are so divided to a tech exec who worked in an Amazon warehouse to help with his depression.

The latest

• Facebook warned its metaverse business will lose even more money next year. It’s a giant middle finger to Wall Street. 

• Inside Elon Musk’s first day at Twitter HQ. He turned up with a sink, one of his kids in tow, and was mobbed in a coffee shop. 

• A mind-boggling photo shows how far the moon is from Earth. Can you spot it?
  

The big story

Vicky Leta/Insider

Americans are deeply divided — politically and socially. 

Conventional wisdom blames social media for the widening divide — but researchers who study this stuff don't believe that the echo chambers of social networks are the real problem.

Instead, senior correspondent Adam Rogers presents a new hypothesis: Maybe it’s not that social media has driven us into like-minded bubbles — maybe it’s that social media obliterated the bubbles we’ve lived in for centuries.

As one researcher told Insider, echo chambers “are more common offline than they are online.” But what's actually changed is that social media scrambled the way we sort ourselves into groups. 

Back in the day, conflicts over political ideas and personal preferences were sorted by geography. Things changed as we all became more connected. Now, we’re exposed to people outside our bubble. And every status update, every tweet, every selfie tells people what team we’re on, slotting us into a fight against the other side.

Read more on what’s going on with our deepening divide.

Top reads

Universal; AMC Networks; NBC Universal; Participant; Rachel Mendelson/Insider

• Meet 26 rising stars of the entertainment business. Hollywood is changing faster than ever — and demanding fresh thinking and innovation from talented leaders. Insider has identified a stellar group of dynamic creative executives on the rise at Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon, and more. Check out the full list here.

• A tech exec worked in an Amazon warehouse to help with his depression. Former Facebook and Microsoft exec Philip Su said that after 23 years in tech, he felt paralyzed by burnout. So he opted to work 11-hour Amazon warehouse shifts, and says the rigid schedule and grueling physical labor helped pull him out of depressive episodes. Read his story.

• Could sailing on a $1.1 billion ship make you finally like cruises? That's what happened to our reporter. She was a self-professed cruise-travel cynic — before she set sail on Norwegian Cruise Line's newest Prima cruise ship. From the ship’s go-kart course to great views off her balcony, see what her experience was like onboard.

• A woman's dying husband helped her find new love with her co-worker before he passed. Deirdre Fagan was married to Bob for 11 years. He was diagnosed with the terminal illness ALS, and Bob suggested that she find a new partner in his final year. Though the process was messy and emotional, she fell in love with her coworker Dave – and 10 years later, they're still together.

• “I make up to $17K a month by self-publishing journals and notebooks.” Sue Irven and her husband began selling on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (or KDP) after trying out other side hustles that didn’t stick. Now they make bank selling designs for “low-content” books — despite having zero design experience. Here’s how they do it.

Today’s sound bite

Can you guess if this headline is real or fake? "J.D. Vance Has a Burnt Monkey Testicle Problem"

Play along with our weekly game, Two Headlines and a Lie, on today’s edition of The Refresh from Insider.

Watch this

Crisis pregnancy centers are religious organizations that don't provide abortions, yet they often show up in search results for the abortion pill. We visited one ourselves to figure out the true impact of these anti-abortion centers hiding in plain sight.

Today's team

Nicholas Carlson (@nichcarlson), Hallam Bullock (@hallam_bullock), Lisa Ryan (@lisarya), and Shona Ghosh (@shonaghosh).

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