It’s not quite just an echo chamber. I’ve had disagreements already but they’ve been polite and not with right-wing zealots who’d never change their minds anyway.
Yep. Mine is all terrible dating advice, men and women talking about each other entirely as though the only human relationships that matter are transactional, and there's no discernable reason why my feed should feature it so much. It's an absolute binfire.
It’s not really about the echo, Ian. It’s about the absence of 24/7 propaganda, about not being called a r•tard, l•btard, b•tch, c•nt, an•hor baby. It’s about people posting jokes, cats, book recommendations. And being ACTUAL PEOPLE. It is so nice to meet you. 🥂
The danger was never echo chambers existing but that we spent too long in them without outside perspective. We've always lived in a big echo chamber, it's called our town/city.
Definitely. Mine is okay at the moment but there have been various points over the last few years when I've been feeling it being bad for me, and I just don't need that shit?
We should nickname them something sky related like sunbeams or clouds. Beams sounds kinda cool. Beam me up, Scotty. I was on Blue Sky beaming today. Nice beam. Maybe make it beem so it has the ee like tweet.
I’m sure the OGs might not take too kindly to a newbie trying to fix stuff in their happy patch but I appeal to them skeet really is not the way to go. Lil Jon owns the word.
You've got to do what's best for you! I don't mind echo chambers, but do seek out the opposite. It just has to be civil discourse and there has to be some willingness to listen to facts. Some social media platforms have made it impossible to do that as they thrive from the the fighting...
I wonder if this is what the Truth Social users felt like when they converted to there...
I mean except for the rage and coffee spurting that seems to emanate from there... but they found "their people" I guess...
I think we’ve sort of lost the plot with the term. Not all views have to be accepted and not all views have to be challenged. Some people are just wrong. I’d rather not hear the opinions of the worst of us all the time, personally.
I do not mind debates or arguments over disagreeing on politics or religion, or anything. What I find frustratingly annoying, is how many that don't use facts and never do any fact checking themselves.
I either need to teach someone, or learn something.
Agreeing on facts is fine too.
I like to explore just to see what they’re saying but the feed I’m given on Twitter is just horrible. I don’t need to see some guy saying that we need to repeal the 19th amendment and that whites are being replaced.
They are far better for my mental health. Sure I'll go seek out opposition sometimes, but I don't like being bombarded by it when I have too few spoons.
And not building “work”, more like unblocking your neighbours drain because they refuse to do it and the shits backing up in your house not theirs… right?
They are unfortunately radicalised, and I have some (v limited) sympathy? More like understanding. When I figure out how to do threads here, I will post about my experience with it. It's a genuinely terrifying place to be, and I am grateful I had the innate suspiciousness and education to get out.
The "Echo chamber" narrative is the "liberal media conspiracy" story, repackaged for people who aren't conservatives. Don't bother with it, and don't fall for it. Curate your space, but keep it wide, and you're fine. Don't self flagellate for not including evil people in your feed.
I want to add that most people who go on about "Liberal echo chambers" are talking about adding conservatives, and basically never actual leftists like anarchists, socialists, and communists, who are generally the only organized resistance to fascism
I’d rather be in an echo chamber than making my blood pressure go up arguing with real life people who say the earth is 6000 years old and evolution isn’t real.
Just let those people exist. You'll never convince them otherwise. Their beliefs are based in deep-seated religion. And honestly? Whatever. It used to bother me too, but just live and let live
Yeah. . .I spent so long fighting myself on that point. But when I realized that some of my tweets fighting misinformation were only visible from my page (despite audience being open + tweet not showing as hidden), I realized that the information won’t even reach the people I want it to anyways.
And then to top it off, you must pay Mr. Monopoly man a monthly fee to get your posts boosted— so even if you want to reach a larger audience (with a debatable number of bots), you still have to fund his fascism!
Just came over from Youtube/Reddit and unfortunately, despite my academic training, I agree.
The problem is that I like to debate politics and policy, and more and more, especially on the right, its just impossible. They dont want convincing or proof, they are signaling loyalty to their tribe.
To them the ONLY information comes from the extremist sources and those parrot each other. They might see something on Fox and have doubts but there it is again on Newsmax and OAN and talk radio and several podcasts so “obviously” it’s true. That many “journalists” can’t be lying…except they are.
Right. Follow Steve Hassan. The information and social enviornment of MAGA fits into the BITE model and can be describes loosely as a "hypercult" which is able to form through social media and self-censorship like you have described.
They dont read other sources, its not doctrine to do so in MAGA.
Interesting. I'd say I'd rather not have an echo chamber, but whatever chamber I'm in, I prefer to not be in the company of gross racists, misogynists, sexists, and so on. A platform doesn't benefit nor need to give those people space. We need to make being awful shameful again.
In real life people live in echo chamber, social relations are built on shared interests. Once a while we venture in new worlds, but it's not sustainable to live daily in an environment that doesn't share your interests or values.
Echo chambers are where ideas and progress go to die. You *need* to be exposed to alternate ideas and philosophies, otherwise your ideas go unchallenged and stagnate. This is true for science, for creative works, and yes, even politics (as long as it's civil)
Every tweet on X with the most lukewarm feminist stance has at least one "Your body, our choice" comment. I have no concerns about going to my echo chamber where I don't have to view threats of rape on the regular.
I still want to engage with all ppl and try to understand all ppl, but only IRL, not algorithm fueled bots and trolls trying to create division and distrust
Yeah, I think I always knew I was going to go from the other place - I've had this account for God knows how long - and I think I was just waiting for some sort of tipping point. Even though it was a long way from me (I'm English), the election result was the point where I thought, "Yanno, fuck it".
When we've learned the prospect of not being in an echo chamber at this point is 98% unproductive hate speech fueled by rampant insecurity and ad-hominem attacks (as opposed to constructive discussion), it's hard to argue the benefit of having never been in one. That said, I second the sentiment!
It sure does feel safe warm and cozy in my Threads bubble. But I needed this Bluesky space to step out, because I am highly politics-averse at the moment.
Comments
Plus, I think it would be interesting to see where the echo chamber has disagreements
Hope we can all be open to questioning our priors among friends
(Couldn't resist)
(And thank you!)
I mean except for the rage and coffee spurting that seems to emanate from there... but they found "their people" I guess...
I either need to teach someone, or learn something.
Agreeing on facts is fine too.
#6'Elon
Dopamine inducing and comforting.
The problem is that I like to debate politics and policy, and more and more, especially on the right, its just impossible. They dont want convincing or proof, they are signaling loyalty to their tribe.
They dont read other sources, its not doctrine to do so in MAGA.
I don’t have to be cannonfodder for abusers here and, quite honesty, love that.
I’ve also noticed heavily moderated spaces have virtually no harassment. So there’s that as well.
Actually, having given it due consideration, it turns out that I do quite like
Actually, having given it due consideration, it turns out that I do quite
Actually, having given it due consideration, it turns out
I want to hear the views of ppl I dont agree with.
Echo chambers are for the self pleasuring class.