The Personal Political Echo Chamber

Dare to listen to the other side.

“If any of you are voting for Trump unfollow me now!”. It seems this phrase is all over Facebook and Twitter these days (I don’t use Snapchat so I don’t have that particular empirical data).

I get it. Reading comments from people on the other side of the political spectrum, who don’t share your ideals or concerns, is anger inducing. It makes my blood boil, so to speak, but luckily France does offer free healthcare for that malady.

Most of us aren’t political pundits, paid to know, to listen, and to weight in on current affairs. Which is why it’s so easy to retreat into our own comfort zones. It’s effortless to click that unfollow button and think to ourselves “that’ll show them”.

However, consider the alternative. Debate, argue, or seethe in silence without unfollowing. Don’t just ignore all other points of view. By doing so, we shut ourselves inside an echo chamber where the only thing we hear is our own narrative bounced back to us.

People like to think they’re right, and surrounding ourselves with only one set of opinions reinforces the illusion that, even with 10% of the facts, we’re still very much right.

The whole point of life is to have an open mind to new ideas, new concepts and different ways of seeing the world. True, some of them will be silly, stupid, or downright dangerous, but every so often you will have learned something from the exchange.

My working theory is that it’s good to let your blood boil. Talk to people with opposing views. Listen to them. Walk away when you’ve had enough. You’ll never convince anyone on the Internet that they’re wrong anyway.

But at least you’ll know what makes them tick.

And you can affect change with that information.

Step out of the echo chamber and into the noise.