The automatic response to a polarising post

The full distribution for “What is your immediate automated response when highly polarizing or controversial communal debates appear on your digital feed?” (n = 399) is: I deeply read the arguments and comment sections, feeling internally upset — 44.6% (178); I completely ignore it and immediately scroll past neutrally — 25.3% (101); I report the post and block the creator to preserve social harmony — 23.6% (94); I actively jump into the comments to argue and defend my community's stance — 6.5% (26).

The cohort is moderately concentrated on this question. One option leads without dominating, so the second and third answers carry real policy weight. The smallest recorded answer, i actively jump into the comments to argue and defend my community's stance, still represents 26 people — a group large enough to matter in programme design even at 6.5%.

These are self-reported answers from a community-recruited cohort of 399 young Keralites surveyed between 21 May and 28 June 2026. They are not probability-sample estimates of Kerala's youth population, and confidence intervals from random sampling do not apply.

Because 74.4% of respondents sit in one age band and 72.7% identify as male, subgroup differences are indicative at best. Cross-tabulated claims require a larger, stratified sample.

Finally, the survey measures single-point self-report, so it can establish association and scale but not direction or cause. Where this brief notes a pattern across two questions, that pattern is descriptive.