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![Free Speech in the Age of Social Media](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8a992058-6f19-42d1-92b1-c2167a52b2a3/53007069854_e2071aa681_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=656%2C0%2C2624%2C2624&w=290)
If the First Amendment’s protections against government intrusion are a core tenet of American democracy, what happens when the chief regulators of speech are private technology companies? What is protected, who gets to decide, and what are the implications for our democracy?
![Social Media Versus American Democracy](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/ecff0e10-0252-4638-8be0-e00347b160f3/29136464838_a9f0d469ef_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1120%2C0%2C4480%2C4480&w=290)
The Founders created a representative republic rather than a direct democracy, designed to slow down deliberation so that majorities could rule based on reason rather than passion. But in the age of Facebook and Twitter, new social media technologies have unleashed populist passions and accelerated public discourse to warp speed, creating the very mobs, demagogues, echo ch...
![Anti-Social Media and The Menace of Disinformation](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/d4fd10f9-f22d-41d6-b92b-e8163999ea31/41278893090_6165c36bae_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1376%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
![#Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null7e8b9d9e-dfa1-4f42-9ba5-34a9921a871e/35170323670_0626ac205a_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=284%2C0%2C1032%2C1032&w=290)
In a well-functioning democracy, people do not live in echo chambers or filter bubbles; rather, citizens are exposed to myriad ideas and perspectives even if not their own. Constitutional scholar Cass Sunstein suggests that our current obsession with social media and our online friend groups narrow the scope of the kinds of daily and serendipitous interactions that might o...
![Teens and Screens: The Unabating Scourge of Social Media](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8214379e-2ce8-4e54-ba3a-f2b5b42982f7/teensandsocialmedia.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=115%2C0%2C5501%2C5504&w=290)
America’s teenagers are facing a mental health crisis; 1 in 3 teen girls say they’ve considered suicide in the past year. Many young people, parents and mental health professionals point to social media as a main culprit. What does science say, and what action is being taken on the legal and regulatory front? And how can you protect your kid’s emotional well-being?
![‘Open to Debate’: Is Social Media Bad for Kids’ Mental Health? (live taping)](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/d3e16e79-2fab-49f9-b411-6028cb1a1c84/aif-062523-socials-listing.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C509%2C509&w=290)
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently released an advisory stating that social media can pose a risk of profound harm to children’s and adolescents' mental health and well-being. Those who agree claim that excessive social media usage can make children experience low self-esteem and negative body image, while cyberbullying and online harassment can contribute to incre...
!['Intelligence Squared' Debate: Social Media Is Good for Democracy](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/87aa1086-f753-4b08-85f8-d0669a8c82f6/43046028011_66919e8e09_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1120%2C0%2C4480%2C4480&w=290)
Platforms like Twitter and Facebook set the stage for a promising digital revolution, providing tools that helped foster global friendships, let new voices be heard, and served as the ultimate democratizing force for information. But critics argue that rather than uniting and informing, social media deepens social and political divisions and erodes trust in the democratic...
![Hate on the Rise — And What We Can Do to Stop It](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null0aafdf44-720b-4fc2-b72c-260d4c375c05/35650169715_420437084f_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=266%2C0%2C1068%2C1068&w=290)
Hate groups and hate-fueled incidents are spiking in America. The Southern Poverty Law Center, through aggregating media reports and gathered submissions from its website, recently catalogued 1051 acts of intimidation and hate in the first month after Trump won the presidency. What is the evidence of this rising tide, and what does it look like in our communities? What gro...
![Healthy Communication: How Truth Can Overpower Disinformation](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/02174c3f-94a0-4660-a498-2e3187fbc3d9/53810359739_2d413e9e55_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1154%2C0%2C3101%2C3101&w=290)
From the measles vaccine to the origins of COVID, the speed at which disinformation spreads and the harms it can do have become painfully familiar. Communicators are fighting back, leveraging the same digital tools as myth purveyors—podcasts, TikTok, X, and other social media channels—to share scientific information in new ways, engage diverse audiences, combat falsehoods,...
![Beauty: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8907ca58-382c-4a32-9d9e-3be7bbc8acc7/52178761384_961eed9245_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=0%2C966%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
According to myth, Helen of Troy was “the face that launched a thousand ships” — her abduction having incited the Trojan War. Most of us can only dream of inspiring such passion, though studies show American women will spend over $200,000 on cosmetics in their lifetimes, and plastic surgeons report they are seeing “catapulting demand for facial plastic surgery and aestheti...
![#DetoxYourFeed (Workshop)](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/f3e7bd77-aedf-4851-9e60-7582c808240b/52177475917_8c44b78451_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1376%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
One in two girls say toxic beauty advice on social media causes low self-esteem, and seven in ten have felt better after unfollowing idealized beauty content. This research — and wider conversations surrounding social media use and its impacts on teens’ mental wellness — make this conversation more urgent than ever. Join creative and cultural expert Jess Weiner for #DetoxY...
![How Movies Move Us](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/643c3fd9-f781-4f0b-a86c-1450c95d74a5/AdobeStock_225395390.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=875%2C0%2C2250%2C2250&w=290)
Has a movie ever changed your mind, the way you act, what you eat? Leads from Oscar-winning Judas and the Black Messiah and other media experts discuss how films are changing public conversations and capturing the attention of citizens and elected officials. Is the medium of the movie essential to societal progress? This panel will compel you to consider how films disrupt...
![Beating Back Disinformation](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/b4959f0a-a376-475b-af24-e0ac67a79180/53821069721_ea42831588_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1219%2C0%2C3101%2C3101&w=290)
Americans’ trust in the media is near an all-time low — a crisis exacerbated by waves of misinformation, conspiracy theories, fake news, social media and AI-generated content. How can serious journalism restore trust and defend a world based on truth and facts?
![Stories of Health and Care](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/e1410f6d-1668-42cf-a564-0b03240188e1/240622_healthcare_stories_008.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=763%2C0%2C2667%2C2665&w=290)
This storytelling event will feature deeply personal stories highlighting the lived experiences of health workers. Hear how they are working every day to solve challenges and deploy solutions in their own communities, closing the gap between communities and care and helping to achieve global health equity. A reception will follow the session from 5:10-5:45pm. (Presented by...
![Addressing Trust as an Element of Media and Democracy](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nullf9020078-e434-4527-8066-ea692620aec8/48152074791_332728d052_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=266%2C0%2C1067%2C1067&w=290)
This session considers the importance of trust, and a healthy distrust, in the well-being of a democracy and the role of the press in this equation drawing on the report of the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy released Feb. 5, 2019 titled, “Crisis in Democracy: Renewing Trust in America.” What measures should local journalism, social media, and the public ta...
![How to Stand up to a Dictator: A Conversation with Maria Ressa](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6e11618e-2b62-421c-8203-f9cc7f03c11f/52998797272_4a1d7a55f7_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=983%2C0%2C3603%2C3603&w=290)
Around the world, a free and independent press stands as one of the last lines of defense against rising autocracy and democratic backsliding. Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, who faces persecution at the hands of the Philippines government, addresses the stakes and what can be done. (Book signing to follow.)
![Why We Should Resist Hate with Free Speech, Not Censorship](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/9434b0c7-669b-4880-9b49-14767c3cc67a/29176238708_ea74d9ed25_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1376%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
Most of us are repulsed by hateful actions and feelings, and it often seems that the easiest — and most just — way of getting rid of hate is by getting rid of the speech that promotes it. Nadine Strossen has dedicated her career to the defense of civil liberties, and as a champion of the First Amendment, she cautions us to remember that speech, painful as some of it might...
![The Epidemic of Loneliness](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/277bffe4-342a-49b9-abb1-119277c1e1a0/34741023633_e6ae4bc3c9_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1000%2C0%2C4016%2C4016&w=290)
The crisis of loneliness poses as grave a threat to public health as obesity or substance abuse. It cuts across generations and reaches around the world. Katie Hafner calls it “a quiet devastation” and the poet Emily Dickenson writes that it is “the horror not to be surveyed.” Millions of people live with sparse human contact and research tells us that lonely people are mo...
![Our "Uniquely Stupid" Decade](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/4c554b50-2d18-4e1d-ac75-c75a58168169/52187729914_1328056017_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=1376%2C0%2C5504%2C5504&w=290)
Americans aren’t dumb—at least individually—but something changed in the last ten years that made the country-as-a-whole stupid in an unprecedented way. And yes, it was social media. What was once a place to share cute kid pics became a place to score hits on enemies and undermine institutional trust, and the viral nature of social media empowered the far political extreme...
![Building Global Health Security from the Ground Up](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nulld69e2b2a-783b-4adc-b26f-973b4dc88172/35338048902_1a6d46df0b_h.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=290&q=80&rect=298%2C0%2C1004%2C1004&w=290)
Community health workers, social media networks, and local residents serve as the first line of defense against global health risks, especially infectious diseases and bioterrorism. While top-down initiatives provide essential resources to detect looming threats, including sophisticated surveillance and diagnostic tools, outbreaks are most likely to be detected first at th...