Opinion | We can have civic trust — even in the age of the algorithm

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A headline about a new education policy flashes across a news-aggregation app. Within minutes, the comment section fills: One reader suggests the proposal has merit; a dozen others pounce. Words like “idiot,” “sheep” and “propaganda” fly faster than the article loads. No one asks what the commenter meant. The thread scrolls on — another small fire in a forest already smoldering.

It’s a small scene, but it captures something larger: how the public square has turned reactive by design. The digital environments where citizens now meet were built to reward intensity, not inquiry. Each click, share, and outrage serves an invisible metric that prizes attention over understanding.

The result isn’t just polarization — it’s exhaustion. People withdraw from civic life not because they’ve stopped caring, but because every exchange feels like stepping into crossfire.

Modern engagement systems have perfected the art of provocation. They learn which emotional triggers keep us scrolling and replicate them endlessly. The more friction, the longer we stay. Over time, disagreement itself becomes contaminated; good-faith debate feels naïve, and empathy becomes a liability.

When every interaction is filtered through algorithms that amplify certainty and suppress doubt, public discourse loses its gray zones — the space where problem-solving once lived.

This hollowing of civic space is dangerous precisely because it’s quiet. Democracies don’t crumble in one grand collapse; they erode in the pauses between conversations that never happen.

Many citizens aren’t angry so much as weary. They’ve learned that sharing a thought online often leads to ridicule, not discussion. To protect their peace, they disengage — leaving public dialogue to those loud enough, or reckless enough, to endure the backlash.

Every system teaches its users something about how to behave. The town square once taught patience: You listened, you waited your turn, you saw the person you disagreed with standing three feet away. The modern interface teaches speed and certainty. It trains us to respond before reflecting and to assume before asking.

Design is never neutral. A comment box can encourage curiosity or contempt, depending on how it’s built. Civic design — whether physical or digital — quietly scripts our norms. When design prioritizes humanity, civility follows. When it prioritizes attention, outrage does.

If democracy depends on dialogue, then design has become a form of governance in itself. How we architect our platforms, classrooms and public spaces will determine whether future citizens see discourse as risk or responsibility.

Imagine digital forums that remove the perverse incentives — no ad targeting, no engagement scores, no algorithmic bait. Instead, discussion is guided by shared principles: listening first; disagreeing without disdain; remembering that persuasion is earned, not imposed.

That’s the philosophy behind Bridging the Aisle, a nonpartisan platform I created to make civil, ad-free conversation possible again. It isn’t perfect, but it’s proof that design can serve democracy rather than distort it. The same approach could guide journalism, education and civic technology: Build spaces that treat dialogue as a public utility, not a product.

We’re approaching a point where the habits of polarization could outlast the systems that produced them. If cynicism becomes culture, no platform redesign or new regulation will be enough to reverse it. The longer we normalize ridicule as civic participation, the harder it becomes to remember that dialogue once felt ordinary. Rebuilding trust isn’t just about protecting democracy — it’s about preserving the capacity to coexist at all.

Rebuilding trust won’t happen through new laws or louder slogans. It begins with redesigning the systems that shape how we see one another. When technology amplifies curiosity instead of contempt, people start to remember that disagreement isn’t a threat — it’s the raw material of progress.

Trust isn’t a luxury; it’s infrastructure. Without it, even the best institutions lose coherence, and every public challenge becomes a private war of opinion.

Educators can teach the art of dialogue, not just debate. Policymakers can model transparency over performance. Citizens can practice restraint online, remembering that every reply sets a tone someone else will follow.

Civic renewal starts where someone dares to ask: What if we listened longer than we reacted?