One whole “echo chamber” was built on stigmatizing the mainstream news which by definition means they’re pushing alternative news.
The only news I’m interested in are the facts. I avoid opinion articles or “framing” as much as I can.
If we’re calling factual reporting an echo chamber then fine. I guess the answer to your question for me is I like my echo chamber because the truth matters.
The “echo chamber” narrative only serves to legitimize and “both sides” bullshit.
Because the opposite echo chamber is filled with lying liars who lie? ;)
You can’t take someone from an echo chamber, present them with facts, and change their mind. In fact, the opposite is true. They double down on what they think they already know.
It feels like politics in America is a game of team sports. Red vs Blue. No compromising, you either win or lose.
Pretty much, except that the Democrats ALWAYS compromise, resulting in a slow creep to the right over the last 50 years.
Human nature; people do not want to admit when they’re wrong, so they seek media that does not challenge their beliefs.
While there’s truth in that, I also feel like the way OP phrased it is needlessly, simplistically cynical. For one thing, just because you’re in general agreement with a group doesn’t necessarily make it an “echo chamber.” There can also be groups that do a pretty good job collectively shining critical analysis on the news of the day in order to sort it out properly. That’s a real thing, and we can see it happening all around us.
Not just that, but never before has there been this level of disinformation injected in to Western society, primarily by Russia & China. They’ve become master internet bullshitters, and we’re now on the brink of democracy failing because of how many people buy in to their complete nonsense. Now to me-- that’s an echo chamber.
Not so much the ones who take the time to have real discussions about what the news of the day means. That part is much harder work IMO, it involves lots more uncertainty and even soul-searching, and overall I think Lemmy and the other place do commendable work, there. Bottom line, it feels pretty insulting to hand-wave away large groups like that as mere “echo chambers,” as if they came anywhere close to what’s happening in other places.
Not just that, but never before has there been this level of disinformation injected in to Western society, primarily by Russia & China. They’ve become master internet bullshitters, and we’re now on the brink of democracy failing because of how many people buy in to their complete nonsense. Now to me-- that’s an echo chamber.
While it’s good to see someone else actually acknowledging this as being something that’s actually happening, I wouldn’t call that an echo chamber as so much as it’s a propaganda agenda attack.
So much conflict online right now may not be truly between different members in the same society, but instead conflict that’s whipped up by agitators from outside of the society.
We should all pay more attention to that meta, and act accordingly.
The concept of the echo chamber was invented by social media companies to gaslight people about how social media algorithms force antagonizing interactions between people who would avoid each other in real life because arguments mean participation means more ad revenue.
In real life constantly trying to hunt down people you disagree with to “expose yourself to the whole debate” isn’t seen as virtuous, it’s seen as grounds for a restraining order, and depending on how intense you were about it, an involuntary psych hold.
It’s not an echo chamber, it’s the fact that how humans naturally build their own social environment outside of social media runs directly opposed to how social media companies maximize their revenue off you.
force antagonizing interactions between people who would avoid each other in real life because arguments mean participation means more ad revenue.
It’s not even that they necessarily would avoid each other in real life, I find. It’s that the channels through which these confrontations take place are totally constructed to promote bad faith snap judgements. It’s why short form content is becoming more popular online, I think. Human expression is sort of pushed through a pasta strainer until it becomes the homogenous goop fuel that both spurns the parasocial gears and powers the skinner’s box roulette wheel at the core of all these services.
I’ll tell you why I’m pretty liberal with my block button and cool with my echo chamber. There are people out there who want me dead for liking my same sex. My trans friends are being legislated against / threatened with violence not because of science or health, but because of feelings and religion. I have family that emigrated legally being exposed to horrific racism and the threat of violence.
Do you support human rights? Or do you support death to the “other” ? Makes my choices easy. Not to mention I prefer actual truth to my information sources, not tabloid fluff designed to keep me enraged.
It’s not just a US thing. It’s human nature and tribalism. People will generally stay in spaces where they are validated, other people agree with them, and their beliefs are reinforced.
One thing that keeps me in my echo chamber is people not coming to debate in good faith. I’m generally all for listening to me ideas and viewpoints, but I find that so many people I talk to just want to convince me I’m wrong.
Before the 2016 election when thedonald was in full swing on Reddit, I thought it would be good to get both sides and entertained it for a while. What I got were the most vitriolic, ignorant, and disingenuous headlines and comments clogging my feed. So ya, I blocked it. If a huge part of a platform is pushing horseshit I don’t feel the least bit bad about blocking it.
A lot of people think that, yet still debate in bad faith when provided with evidence etc.
I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that Americans define themselves by their politics. Where I’m from people will usually say, “I voted for X” but in the US it seems people say, “I am a republican/democrat”.
Also the concept of registering as a democrat/republican. Is that just for being able to vote for your preferred party’s nominee in the pre-selection phase? It seems like it would go a long way towards mentally committing you to how you vote in the actual election.
Regarding party selection, yes that’s exactly right. It’s for the primaries, which selects the candidates for that party, and people do tend to vote along party lines.
I think people expressing opinions to othet that they don’t agree with makes people uncomfortable. People tend to avoid feeling uncomfortable. Also some people get angry when they get uncomfortable.
Its hard to have an meaningful conversation with someone who is angry.
For a rather unsettling take, you may be interested in the concept of the digital panopticon. Because of the degree of surveillance that is possible in what media we consume, it’s also possible that we are intentionally being kept in these echo chambers.
Most people pretty much live their lives thinking they have the right opinions about pretty much everything. Then they think that people closest to them are more or less the same but the further you get from yourself the more wrong they are and then the opposition is basically wrong about everything. It takes quite a bit to admit to yourself that you’re most likely entirely wrong about a lot of things just as well as the “opposition” is right about some of the stuff you absolutely hate to even think about.
If you don’t hold any views you know would make your side of the political isle disagree with you then you’re most likely in a echo chamber.
People prefer less social strife in general. They may think they like “owning” some opponent, but what they really want is a bunch of people that agree with them so they can feel safe and calm. That’s what it comes down to, that feeling of safety.
Engaging in conflict is only fun when the base you’re standing on, and returning to, is solid and supportive.
That is completely faction agnostic, it applies outside of politics as well.
Since the world as it is often is controlled by people leveraging fear and doubt to wield control, it pushes people into feeling besieged which makes them seek “safety” in numbers by connecting with those they think of as allies more than they might if not exposed to the manipulation used by political (or other) blocs and the people that control those blocs.
Not American; is this something that you come across offline too? Since I mostly see this online, and the behavior that you described are rewarded more since social media companies get more money from it.
Not really, seems like people are much more reasonable IRL than compared to the loud crazy crap you see online.
Splintered media environment means we don’t actually have a shared set of facts to discuss with people from the other side anymore. We can’t have normal conversations when we can’t agree on the basic facts on the ground.
Because arguing with idiots online is bad for mental health. And if you keep doing it, eventually some of your online haters might find out where you live.
