I wonder if social media has actually moved our political system closer to a direct democracy than it used to be. Instead of representatives debating amongst th

I wonder if social media has actually moved our political system closer to a direct democracy than it used to be. Instead of representatives debating amongst themselves to decide what to do about any particular issue, the debate (if you can call it that) happens on social media and the representatives then get immediate feedback about what the popular position is on "their side". Any deviation from that position is then met with immediate negative feedback from those same social hive minds, creating a disincentive for representatives to think for themselves. I'm not convinced this is an entirely new phenomenon, but perhaps it's been amplified in recent years?