How to Keep Your Sanity Around Friends and Family With Wildly Different Political Views

EIght must-know survival strategies :)

Politics: the great divider of dinner tables, the cause of countless family feuds, and why half of your Facebook friends are muted. If you've ever found yourself clutching a dinner roll like a stress ball while your uncle rants about the government, you are not alone. In an increasingly polarized world, managing political differences with people you care about feels like walking a tightrope over a pit of snapping crocodiles.

Fortunately, you are reading Life Intelligence, and I have some psychology-based tips and strategies to help you keep your relationships intact while keeping your blood pressure in check.

Full disclosure - I've had to resort to using these myself, so consider them "tested" and "true."

Many people struggle to understand how someone can believe or support a political stance that feels entirely irrational to them. This disconnect often stems from psychological mechanisms like cognitive biases, identity reinforcement, and differing sources of information. When individuals consume media that aligns with their existing beliefs, their views become more deeply entrenched, making alternative perspectives seem foreign or even incomprehensible. Add in emotional investment and social influences, and suddenly, two people can look at the same set of facts and draw completely different conclusions.

Often, it gets worse because it seems that you and your opponent may be living in completely different and separate informational universes, thanks to partisan media and social media algorithms that not only skew the facts but also choose which ones to show you or hide from you.

So, assume you're talking to an alien. Be compassionate and follow the eight strategies below.