Blog 8: EOTO2 Post

 Echo Chambers

In today's media, there are a variety of sources that reflect all different beliefs, but what if you only surround yourself with media that only reflects your own? This could cause you to be in an echo chamber. An echo chamber is when you only hear ideas or opinions that match your own, over and over again. Instead of hearing a variety of viewpoints, you just hear things that confirm what you already think. While this can feel comforting and you agree with everything being said, it also limits your understanding of the world.

How do Echo Chambers affect our thinking

Echo chambers can prevent people from seeing the full story. When you're constantly exposed to biased or misleading information, it’s easy to believe things that aren't true. According to GCF Global, they state, “Echo chambers can create misinformation and distort a person’s perspective so they have difficulty considering opposing viewpoints and discussing complicated topics.” For example, sometimes I watch news that supports one side of an issue, because of this, I am not seeing both sides, which impacts how I view certain issues. Echo chambers can affect how people think critically. When people hear the same ideas over and over, they stop questioning them. It becomes easy to just accept things without really thinking about them. Without different perspectives, we can miss important details or misunderstand issues. 

Social Media

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can easily create echo chambers. These platforms show us content based on what we like, share, or comment on. If you engage with posts that match your beliefs, you’ll keep seeing similar posts. According to Matteo Cinelli, he states, “Social media may limit the exposure to diverse perspectives and favor the formation of groups of like-minded users framing and reinforcing a shared narrative, that is, echo chambers.” Over time, people will only see content that agrees with them, and they stop encountering new or different ideas. I feel that the views people have can also come from the environment they were surrounded by growing up. If people are constantly hearing things in their household as a child, they might believe it as they start to grow up. This leads me to the question can households and that environment be an echo chamber?

Politics

In politics, echo chambers can have a big impact. Some news outlets or websites are designed to appeal to specific political views. A conservative outlet might focus on stories that support conservative ideas, while a liberal outlet might do the same for liberal views. I've experienced situations where my friends are so set in their views that they're not open to considering other perspectives. According to Morgan Kelly, she states, "The researchers found that when people preferentially connect to people with similar opinions, they create an echo chamber that increasingly polarizes the views of everyone in the network." This is especially common in politics, where it often feels like people believe their way is the only right way, and there's no room for other opinions. During elections, this can be dangerous because people may only hear one side of the story and miss important facts. It makes it harder for people to understand each other and find common ground.

Echo chambers limit our understanding of the world. Whether it’s on social media, in politics, or online sources, echo chambers prevent us from hearing new ideas and can make us believe things that aren't true. When we only surround ourselves with content that confirms our beliefs, we stop thinking critically about important issues. Personally, I have fallen into an echo chamber before. It wasn’t until recently where I started to see from a global perspective rather than having tunnel vision for one point of view. To avoid falling into an echo chamber, society needs to make an effort to look for different viewpoints, talk to people who think differently, and be open. By doing this, society can better understand the world and have an open mind.