“ Echo chamber is a metaphorical description of a situation in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system. By visiting an ‘echo chamber’, people are able to seek out information that reinforces their existing views, potentially as an unconscious exercise of conformation bias. This may increase social and political polarization and extremism.” (ECPS, Echo chamber 2020.) Echo chambers tell people what they want to hear while blocking out what they don’t want to hear. It is an extremely concerning thing in our society because people can become more and more isolated with their opinions that can get more extreme.
Echo chambers are what happens when an opinion goes unchecked. In an echo chamber, someone who is already in favor of a particular issue will be exposed to information that supports that view. At the same time, they will not be exposed to any information that conflicts with that opinion. This leads them to conclude they are correct.
One of the big problems for society with echo chambers is that it can lead to polarization. If someone doesn’t even consider the other side of an issue, they can become more solid in their beliefs. Over time, they may develop negative feelings to those who disagree with them. This problem is very present in politics. “ Overall, 24% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents consistently turned only to sources with right-leaning audiences in at least two of three Pathways surveys, and 25% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents chose only outlets with left-leaning audiences in at least two of the three surveys.” (Mitchell et al., 1. About a quarter of Republicans, Democrats consistently turned only to news outlets whose audiences aligned with them politically in 2020 2021.) One of the big negative effects this has on society is increased polarization. This is because when a large section of the population is only receiving a single viewpoint, they grow apart from the other sections of the population. It can affect our family and friends because they make develop more extreme opinions as a result of getting their news in an echo chamber which can lead to conflicts. When people have such opposing views they may not show respect to those that disagree with them. Getting news in a more balanced way can help to fix this issue.
Different segments in society may have different effects from echo chambers. For example, people that hold a minority opinion that isn’t popular in society may start to believe that institutions are biased against their viewpoint. Over time, they can grow to distrust important institutions in society. They may not trust scientists or scientific agencies if they are in an anti-science echo chamber. They may decide to ignore important information as a result of this that can negatively impact them. This could happen to anyone. Different segments of society may participate in different echo chambers of news that is relevant to them. However, it is good for people to get their news from many different places to avoid this issue.
My generation should be careful about echo chambers because more of us are getting our news online. “ April data shows that 68% of Gen Z adults turn to social media for news at least once a week, which is significantly higher than the share who reported using online-only news sites (30%), their second most commonly used medium.” (Tran, Trends in gen Z news consumption 2022.) My generation is at risk for echo chambers because of how much we use social media for getting our news. When people follow the social media accounts with the same perspective and don’t get their news from any dissenting opinions, this is how an echo chamber is formed which can lead to polarization among society. This is part of how it can affect my friends as well as me. If we are getting so much of our news online from social media then it is important to be mindful of the sources that we use. Having multiple different points of view for any topic is a great idea to avoid echo chambers. Multiple perspectives can be a great thing on social media.
Overall, I believe that echo chambers are something we should be mindful of. It is way too easy to end up with an echo chamber of certain opinions. It is an issue that impacts society in general. By getting news from multiple different sources we can have a more informed opinion.
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