Living in information bubbles

You have an opinion. You follow someone else (or a media outlet) on social media who has that opinion or who says something that aligns with it. They have some other folk who have that opinion who also interact with them, and you follow them. Your social media tool then suggests still other people you might follow, based on people you're following.

And, suddenly, you have a ton of incoming information coming in, feel very well informed — and you're only hearing an intimately-connected social bubble.

Which it's fun to point at when it's your crazy relative who is obsessed with [insert media outlet / pundit / political site / etc.], but just like you can clearly see other galaxies, but have a much more difficult time seeing our own, so too you are likely in a bubble of your own making.

I don't have any obvious answers. I try to listen to some dissenting viewpoints, engage in discussions, avoid the ban-hammer except in the most egregious circumstances — but I'm sure I'm as guilty of pursuing confirmation bias and the comfort of the echo chamber as anyone else.  It's — something important for me to remember, at least.

(It's also why stridency and anger and partisan in these types of discussions is rarely productive, at least for me. Write "Hey, here's something that Obama did that seems a bit dodgy …" and I'm likely to read along and consider it. Unless you end that sentence with "… but what else can you expect from a commie Kenyan baby-killing Christ-hater?"  Addressing particular issues and facts is, for me at least, much more effective at making me reconsider my own conclusions.)

(h/t +Andreas Schou)

Reshared post from +Aleatha Parker-Wood

What is your filter bubble hiding from you? The Israeli-Gaza conflict makes a great test case.