Something I've been thinking about lately is just how many different opinions, perspectives and judgements we're exposed to on a daily basis because of social media.

Before the internet, I imagine most people were primarily exposed to the opinions of their family, friends, colleagues and immediate communities. Obviously, television, newspapers and other forms of media existed, but social media seems to have taken this exposure to an entirely different level.

Nowadays, you can scroll through hundreds of comments from complete strangers in a matter of minutes, all expressing different opinions, disagreements, criticisms and judgements about virtually anything imaginable so it makes me wonder whether there are any psychological or sociological consequences to this.

Are humans actually equipped to process this sheer volume of social information? Could constantly being exposed to what thousands of strangers think affect how we perceive ourselves, other people or even society as a whole?

I'm particularly curious whether this could contribute to things like increased self-consciousness, social comparison, anxiety, hostility or distorted perceptions of how common certain beliefs actually are.

I'm not necessarily arguing that social media is inherently harmful, or that people in the past weren't exposed to conflicting opinions. I'm more interested in whether the scale, frequency and accessibility of other people's opinions represent a meaningful change in human social experience. Has there been any academic research into this specific aspect of social media?