The Government Doesn’t Need to Control People Anymore. We Do It to Ourselves.
- Melinda Miller
- May 6
- 4 min read
One of the most uncomfortable truths about modern society is this:
The government doesn’t need to silence people when people are already too distracted, divided, exhausted, and psychologically dependent on validation to think clearly for themselves.
That sounds dramatic until you actually look at the data.
Trust in American institutions has collapsed over the last several decades. In 2024, only 22% of Americans said they trusted the federal government to do the right thing most of the time. Eighty-five percent said elected officials don’t care what people like them think.
And honestly?
Can you blame them?
People look around and see rising loneliness, addiction, mental health crises, political hostility, economic pressure, and social fragmentation while being told everything is progressing beautifully.
Meanwhile Americans are becoming increasingly isolated from one another. The U.S. Surgeon General reported that approximately half of American adults experience loneliness.
Half.
That’s not a personality issue anymore. That’s a societal condition.
And instead of asking what kind of culture creates this level of disconnection, modern society keeps prescribing distraction as treatment.
Scroll more Consume more. Argue more. Buy more. Brand yourself more.
Everything became performance.
Modern society rewards visibility over character and outrage over wisdom. Social media platforms profit from emotional intensity because anger, fear, tribalism, and conflict generate engagement. Engagement generates revenue.
That’s not conspiracy theory. That’s literally the business model.
Research has repeatedly shown increasing political polarization online, including studies showing rising ideological isolation and “echo chamber” behavior on social media platforms.
People no longer argue to understand each other.
They argue to perform loyalty to their side.
That distinction matters.
Because once identity becomes fused with ideology, disagreement stops feeling intellectual and starts feeling personal. Suddenly every conversation becomes moral warfare.
That’s why people are cutting off friends and family over politics at growing rates. Nearly one in five Americans report severing friendships over political disagreements.
Read that again.
People are becoming socially fragmented not only by government or media influence, but by the psychological environment modern systems encourage.
And this is where the government conversation gets uncomfortable.
I don’t think governments create all these problems alone. That would be simplistic.
But governments, corporations, media systems, and social media platforms all benefit from emotionally reactive populations.
Fear keeps people engaged .Division keeps people distracted. Outrage keeps people consuming.
A calm, deeply reflective, independent population is much harder to manipulate politically and commercially than an exhausted, emotionally overstimulated one.
That’s just reality.
And before somebody dramatically accuses this article of being “anti-government,” let’s be adults for five seconds.
Criticizing societal systems is not extremism. It’s citizenship.
Healthy societies require skepticism. Democracies depend on questioning power structures, media narratives, and institutional failures without collapsing into paranoia or tribal hysteria.
But modern culture struggles with nuance.
Now if someone questions media influence, they’re called paranoid. If they question corporations, they’re called radical. If they question government failures, they’re accused of being dangerous.
Meanwhile institutional trust continues collapsing because people can clearly feel that something is wrong.
People are lonelier. More polarized. More anxious. More dependent on digital validation. More disconnected from meaning and community.
And despite endless technological advancement, many people quietly feel less human than ever before.
Maybe the real controversy isn’t saying society is broken.
Maybe the real controversy is admitting that deep down, most people already know it is.
Oct 17, 2024 — In a spring 2024 Center survey, only 22% of U.S. adults said they trust the federal government to do the right thing just about always or most ..American Academy of Arts and Sciences
by HE Brady · Cited by 109 — Except for the military and science, confidence in most American political and nonpolitical institutions has fallen precipitously over the past fifty years..Read more
Dec 18, 2024 — A 2019 nationally representative survey of more than 10,000 individuals found that 48 percent of Americans “always or sometimes felt isolated ...Read more.
Aug 22, 2024 — This report aims to build on previous social capital research by documenting the racial and class divisions in social capitalreadcreation.Readamericansurveycenter.org
Comments