If you are optimizing for keeping eyes glued to screens to deliver more ads, people being hateful to each other is very engaging.

This certainly predates social media (tabloids, tabloid television), but social media definitely took things to a new level.

So, you don't think there was tribalism pre-2006? I'm just curious, do you remember that time? Was it much better then?

I ask because it seems like we have mostly the same politicians (McConnell, Pelosi, Biden, even Trump ran as an independent) as we did then.

I remember pre-2006. I was in my mid-30s by then. I don’t recall much open animosity between Republicans and Democrats. Certainly nothing like today. There was a lot of coming together post 9/11. I do think social media was the main instigator of the country falling into open tribalism.

I can't think of how to make a more constructive response, but I too remember pre-2006 (that really seems funny to say), and I'm just laughing at your response. The laughing isn't to ridicule it, I just think its truly funny how much I disagree. I guess back then it was talk radio that was blamed for stoking the animosity.

While the tribalism definitely existed back then the amount and openness in which it existed was so much less as to be categorically different. For example, people openly blaming one tribe or the other for some aspect of reality that doesn't even fall nicely along party lines wasn't just a fact of discourse back then like it is now.

post-9/11 coming together is an interesting confound. How to you disambiguate a reversion to a more tribal pre-9/11 nature from social media's influence?