Our very own self-righteous digital bubble
Of course, we're right! We always are...
Almost every opinion we post on Social Media is corroborated by our friends, and if someone dares disagree, a comment war (diplomatic or otherwise) generally ensues.
15 years ago, I doubt most of us had an online existence. Okay, maybe a few of us were obsessing about the testimonials and scraps we were gathering on Orkut (Yes, it was an important part of my life for a few months!), but we definitely weren't checking our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds every few minutes, or forming new opinions and becoming keyboard activists at today's hectic pace.
Every now and again, a memory pops up on my Facebook feed. 7 years ago, I wasn't liberal. I probably held worldviews I would scoff at today, and I followed a different style of content. My music tastes, movie reviews and more were completely different.
In 7 years, many of my views have become polar opposites of each other, But one thing seems to have remained unchanged - I am still supported by my circle, giving me the same sense of entitlement, that is gradually growing stronger by the day.
That's probably how our offline social life works as well... Most of surround ourselves with people who tend to agree with us, and rarely entertain opposing views. But online, this is magnified 100 times over. 100 times the friends, 100 times the content, 100 times the noise, 100 times the reinforcement that we believe in everything that is right in the world!
For e.g - A person with 'mainstream liberal views' tends to have a 'mainstream liberal' timeline, and that makes him/her all the more 'mainstream liberal', and this spills into real life as well. It is a personal observation, but I'm sure a sizeable chunk of you would relate to this.
For my small part, I'm now trying to see my online bubble for what it really is, and try not to be overly influenced by views supporting mine, or angered by views that oppose mine. It's way harder than I thought it would be, because in the current world of social media, Outrage one must! :)