Coming Out of My Echo Chamber and Doing Just Fine
There’s beauty in the spectrum of human opinions
I’m an opinionated person. If someone says something I disagree with, I get red-faced, splutter, and dismiss their words as bullshit. I tend to approach life with a “yes” or “no” attitude, even though I know things are far more nuanced than that. So I’m coming out of my echo chamber. It’s uncomfortable but totally worth it.
What Is an Echo Chamber?
An echo chamber is an environment where you’re only exposed to opinions and beliefs similar to your own. An epistemic bubble is a structure where other voices are left out and not heard. The difference between the two, I think, is that you’re aware of other opinions when you’re in an epistemic bubble. But when you’re in an echo chamber, you are aware of those voices and you deliberately exclude and discredit them.
We often associate echo chambers with social media, but you can be in an echo chamber online or in the outside world. They’re often related to political topics but can relate to anything. I’m in an echo chamber with people who believe cold weather sucks and can’t tolerate people who enjoy it.
Echo chambers tend to fall into opposing sides of an argument, with little time for the middle ground. The longer…
