As Utah and the rest of the nation continue to contend with the gruesome killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk in front of thousands of people at Utah Valley University last week, Utah Governor Spencer Cox emphasized unity in a message for the state’s college students.

“You can build a culture where we embrace differences without letting hate divide us, where hope is stronger than cynicism, and where forgiveness breaks the cycle of violence,” Cox said in a recorded video message that was circulated to university campuses on Monday.

“My friends and Utahns, this is our moment,” he said. “The question is, do we escalate? Or do we walk down the better path? My prayer is that you will choose humanity, connection and love. And I believe with all my heart that you will.”

Cox, a Republican, has made several appearances on national television in the days since Kirk’s shooting, which he has called a “political assassination.” He’s given multiple impassioned speeches — including one on Friday, when officials announced the suspected shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, had been taken into custody — calling the shooting a “watershed (moment) in American history.”

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“The question is,” Cox said on Friday, “what kind of watershed? And that chapter remains to be written. Is this the end of a dark chapter in our history, or the beginning of a darker chapter in our history?”

During appearances on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and on CNN over the weekend, Cox repeatedly pointed to an escalation of political violence in the U.S. in recent years — and he urged Americans to not wait for a political leader, whether it’s a president or a governor, to “lead us out of this,” but instead take individual actions to build bridges in their communities.

He also repeatedly warned of the dangers of social media, which he called a “cancer on our society.”

“I can’t emphasize enough the damage that social media and the internet is doing to all of us. Those dopamine hits, these companies — trillion-dollar market caps, the most powerful companies in the history of the world — have figured out how to hack our brains, get us addicted to outrage … and get us to hate each other,” Cox said on “Meet the Press.”

Cox said he’s watched it happen “in real time” in the wake of Kirk’s killing, and “in every corner of our society.”

“The conflict entrepreneurs are taking advantage of us. And we are losing agency,” Cox said. “We have to take that back. We have to turn it off. We have to get back to the community, caring about our neighbors, the things that make America great.”

It’s not the first time Cox has tried to encourage civility in politics — or has gone after social media companies.

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When he served as chair of the National Governor’s Association, Cox championed a “Disagree Better” campaign meant to discourage hyperpolarization and hate. And Cox has been a vocal supporter of Utah legislative efforts to regulate teen use of social media. Utah state leaders have also filed four lawsuits against major social media companies, including Meta, TikTok and Snapchat, over how addictive algorithms interact with minors.

State and local officials have not yet revealed more details about Kirk’s suspected shooter’s motives, but Cox pointed to shell casing engravings that indicated anti-fascist messages and vulgar internet memes. He also said, according to accounts from friends and family, that Robinson seemed to have been “radicalized.”

“Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on. Friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep,” Cox said on “Meet the Press,” adding that the bullet casing inscriptions seem to show “the meme-ification that is happening in our society today.”

Cox, in his message to Utah’s college students Monday, acknowledged that the past week has been “incredibly tough.”

“Right now, it may feel like rage is the only language in our politics, but you have the power to choose differently,” Cox said. “Every person you meet is more than a party, or more than a label, more than a post online. Everyone deserves dignity and respect.”

That means, Cox said, “talking to people you disagree with, listening even when it’s hard, and forgiving, even when it feels impossible.”

“Campuses like yours must be a place of the free exchange of ideas,” he said. “It’s critical to our American experiment.”

The governor challenged students to “spend less time online, where outrage has become so normal, and more time in the real world.”

“Put down your phone. Read something that lifts your spirit. Go outside. Laugh with your friends. Serve your neighbors,” he said. “Remember, what happens online is not real life.”

Cox also urged anyone who is skeptical whether “this can actually make a difference,” to “look around.”

“When tragedy struck this past week, there weren’t riots or destruction. There were vigils, prayers, and people coming together,” he said. “That’s the Utah way. Your generation can carry that forward.”