Brad Hicks’ fascination with social media platforms began long before everyone started using them.
The St. Louis resident has been “a journalism addict since I was 4 years old in 1964” and on social media “technically longer” than it’s been available to the general public. He’s active on places like Reddit, particularly a subreddit that focuses on Missouri politics.
But Hicks said he’s scaled down his social media usage since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.
Beyond just the volume of news, Hicks said social media platforms are serving up less and less relevant information about national politics. He said sites want users to keep watching ads, as well as “lots of anger, lots of fear, lots of intense emotional engagement, and less and less actual news.”
That, Hicks said, creates a toxic and unappealing environment.
“People online rage and rant and throw tantrums exactly the way an autistic child does because they can't read each other,” said Hicks, who is autistic.
Joshua Lawrence of St. Louis also cited racist and antisemitic content as causing him to pull back from social media. Lawrence, who is Jewish, said he only can get called “the k slur as a Jew so many times before it gets a little old.”
But instead of completely disengaging, Lawrence consolidated his social media usage to a couple of platforms — mainly Facebook and Instagram. And while Lawrence is still paying close attention to the city of St. Louis’ political scene online, he said he feels much better channeling his energies elsewhere.
“Because what I'm interested in is actually effecting change,” Lawrence said. “You know, I love yelling on social media as much as the next person, but if all we're doing is yelling, we get so burned out we have to remember why we're doing this and what actually brings us joy.”
Using social media more
There isn’t enough data yet in 2025 to determine whether anecdotes from social media users in the St. Louis region are part of a nationwide trend.
University City resident Janie Brennan said she’s spent more time on Facebook to learn about the developments of Trump’s administration since he returned to office. And while she also makes sure to read about current events on media outlet websites, Brennan said platforms like Facebook do a good job of keeping her informed.
“I think occasionally it is a little overwhelming, but I feel like there's so much happening and it's so important to the state of the country and everyone's well being and safety, sometimes that it's important that I keep involved,” Brennan said. “I don't feel like it's right for me to just check out.”
News consumers have gravitated to social media platforms quite a bit more in recent years — with the Pew Research Center finding that 54% of respondents primarily get their news from places like Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok or Threads.
“I really think of Facebook as sort of a utility at this point when it comes to communication,” said St. Louis resident Seema Dahlheimer, who has spent more time on social media since Trump returned to office. “And so disengaging myself from that would be really difficult unless it really turned into a cesspool like Twitter/X did. But so far, that doesn't seem to be happening.”
And while some progressive social media users have dumped X since Elon Musk took ownership of the platform in 2022, conservatives like St. Louis County resident Niles Stephens like the changes the billionaire made.
He also said he has practical reasons for turning to social media platforms in order to stay informed about national current events.
“If you hear something on the radio or you hear someone talking about an issue, it's just faster and easier to check social media versus trying to go through a news site or Google,” Stephens said.
Social media and journalism’s complex relationship
News outlets have struggled for years on how to deal with the rise of social media platforms that make their already dire financial outlook even worse.
Matt Pearce, a senior policy adviser with Rebuild Local News, a nonprofit group that advocates for governmental policies aimed at revitalizing the languishing journalism industry, noted that a number of social media platforms have essentially penalized users who post links to news sites. Or, in the case of Instagram and TikTok, they've deprioritized linking almost entirely.
Pearce, a former Los Angeles Times reporter and Cass County, Missouri, native, said that’s not an accident.
“These are advertising-based companies that don't want people leaving the advertising on those platforms to go on to the New York Times or to the Kansas City Star’s website,” Pearce said.
Pearce also said the people who are flocking to social media platforms to learn about current events aren’t necessarily going to news outlet websites or to specific journalists. He pointed to polling from the Center for News, Technology and Innovation that found nearly a quarter of respondents learn about current events through social media influencers.
And Pearce said this development affects the quality of information news consumers are getting.
“The thing that has journalists at a permanent disadvantage, and I think it's only getting worse, is journalists fundamentally have to try to produce information that is accurate and honest and truthful and somewhat fair in some way or another,” Pearce said. “And everyone else does not. At the same time that everyone got the equal access to publishing and dissemination as journalists did, journalists haven't been able to reap those benefits.”
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
