Reel Vs Real

Recently, social media around the travel & tourism sector was abuzz with a hypothesis…. that number of tourists coming into Goa, over the years, are decreasing.

There are data and evidences being thrown up from both sides; people who support this theory and people who don’t.

The amazing thing is that no matter what you think to be true, you can discover more content that supports it. That brings me to a separate topic: ever noticed how, when you start paying attention to something specific, it feels like the world suddenly starts presenting more of it? You might think you’re just becoming more observant, but there’s actually a psychological principle at play here—it's called confirmation bias.

Here's a simple example: Imagine you’re looking for people wearing red shirts. At first, you might see a few, but the more you focus on it, the more you'll spot. The same happens when you switch your focus to people in black shirts. This isn't magic; it's your brain filtering information to confirm your beliefs or interests.

Now, let's take this concept to social media and relate it to the content we consume daily on platforms like Instagram Reels, YouTube, or TikTok. The algorithms on these platforms are designed to track your preferences—whether it’s humourous clips, entertainment gossip, cooking tutorials, politics, religion or something more specific like “how walking is the best exercise” or “how walking is the most futile exercise” —the more you engage with a certain type of content, the more you’ll see of it. And over time, your feed gets shaped by the content you consume the most, even if you’re unaware of it.

This can create a distorted perception of reality and can lead to misjudgement and misperception about trends, opinions, situations or even the world itself. It’s easy to forget that the content we’re consuming is tailored to us and doesn’t always paint an accurate picture of the broader reality.

So, next time you're scrolling, remember: your feed is influenced by your choices and biases. It’s important to stay conscious of the echo chambers we can inadvertently build and strive to explore content that challenges our thinking. By doing so, we can broaden our perspectives and see the full spectrum of ideas, not just the ones that confirm what we believe.

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