Echo Chambers
Most probably already know this, even if not consciously, deep down we recognize it rings true — You know that YouTube algorithm that automatically plays/suggests videos you might, most probably like and lean into? Well, we as individuals actually have that kind of algorithm built in us.
We naturally tend to consume, believe, and voice out thoughts, ideas and perspectives that are familiar and at the same time feed our biases (and our egos). Over time, if unchecked by others or him/herself, one can spiral into this sort of feedback loop until he or she arrives at a place where the voices one hears are the very same things he or she already knows.
Yes, it’s confirmation bias. But there’s another a term for this that I like, this place, this environment. Because I think it encapsulates the picture and feeling of where one is, and points to the necessity of getting out of it, or at the very least recognizing that he or she is in one — an echo chamber.
In times like these, when polarity (especially in politics) is at its all time highs, it is all the more necessary for all of us to reexamine our own thoughts and biases. This is where you might think, I couldn’t possibly be in one of these. It may not look like it when it is described in writing, because in describing it this way it can become obvious, but the process of getting to this place, this chamber, is gradual and insidious, and can be downright dangerous.
In a sense, we are all living in some kind of modified “echo chamber,” and there is nothing wrong with this. It’s human nature. But the challenge, and a difficult one at that, is to make sure we don’t reinforce the walls of our own preferred “chamber” to the point of trapping ourselves in it, never fully seeing outside of our own and making it impossible to come to an understanding with others in a different environment.
It’s natural to have a preference, but it’s our duty to once in a while walk over to the other side and see what exactly is going on there, from their perspective, not the ones we’re used to. Skepticism is allowed, but temper it with a child-like curiosity rather than dismissiveness. For in times like these, when there is an overwhelming sense of uncertainty, injustice, pain and suffering, understanding is a necessity. This is a reminder to myself as much as to others. It’s a difficult practice.
Just felt like putting this out there. Again, as a reminder. And maybe in the hopes that it might slip through a crevice in the walls of those chambers, before they build up and close.
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