Beware the social media echo chamber

As Thomas Jefferson said, ‘If you can only afford one newspaper, buy the one you least agree with’

Many of the social media giants we use on a daily basis are keen to keep us engaged with them, and thus keen to show us more of what we like. This creates the dreaded echo chamber – in which we only see and hear opinions with which we agree.

Tech giants care about little more than their shareholders, while algorithms and robots care only for providing you with more and more confirmation bias, pushing your head further into the sand dune of your beliefs, however extreme or fictitious they may become.

It is incumbent upon us as citizens in what is (allegedly) still a functioning democracy to battle against this.

A quotation often attributed to Thomas Jefferson says, “If you can only afford one newspaper, buy the one you least agree with.” A modern revision might ask that you don’t delete that uncle from Facebook. And since you follow several thousand people on Twitter, make sure you include a few who regularly enrage you.

I don’t mean the rent-a-gobs who fill up morning TV panels (or indeed host them). I don’t mean the perpetually outraged, or those who are energised by confrontation. I don’t mean liars or those who evidently peddle fake news. Look for respected, educated, persuasive people, who express opinions entirely opposed to your own.

As a journalist, this regularly gives me an insight into voting patterns, protests, wars and occasionally, just what on earth the president of the United States is rambling on about.

Much of it can of course be easily dismissed. But occasionally, you may find your opponent has a point; a strangely exhilarating feeling which should be embraced, and which can expand your own political mindset.

Because from Trump’s America to Brexit Britain, we have lost the art of nuance, and as a result, we are losing the art of compromise. Many of us need reminding that just because someone supports a different party, it doesn’t immediately make them wrong, or indeed evil. The sight of governments in deadlock, or institutions shut down show that modern discourse is chipping away at our democracy.

There is always a way to push things forward, while agreeing to disagree.

Yours,

Ben Kelly

Deputy social media editor