Dialogue in the Social Media Age

The anti-dialogical nature of social media has exacerbated social divides while widening the gap between policy decisions and their lived implications. Effective interpersonal relationships – both a conduit and requisite of democracy – are arguably grounded in dialogue. As envisaged by Martin Buber, dialogue necessitates holding space for other subjectivities, constituting a humanistic approach to building trust and community. To build a healthy democracy, we thus need to reconceptualise the practical connections between dialogue, collaborative participation and public engagement. To this end, this article puts forth a two-pronged approach to the contribution of dialogue: by fostering presence while unsilencing marginalised voices. Specifically, we will explore the potential applications of Buberian dialogue within the practice of Structured Democratic Dialogue (SDD). As a methodology that both requires and facilitates trust-building absent in social media mechanisms, SDD promises a path towards greater inclusiveness and commitment core to the workings of deliberative democracy.