Rising Above the Echo Chamber
“What’s the worst part of being in an echo chamber?
At some point, our thoughts stop being our thoughts.”
In the aftermath of CNN’s town hall, the media’s ability to influence and create echo chambers is all too evident. How can we hope to form our own opinions based on objective reporting when we’re being fed groupthink? In this week’s blog, we wrestle with the question: What is the media’s responsibility in the face of an increasingly polarizing electoral landscape?
Updates from our movement:
Movement Partner Featured in The Atlantic
- Anne Applebaum is a Movement Partner, senior fellow at the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University where she co-leads a project on 21st-century disinformation, and Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and writer. Her piece “The Counteroffensive” was this month’s cover story in?The Atlantic. Co-authored with Jeffrey Goldberg, the article is about the war in Ukraine and the effect the results of the stalemate with Russia will have on the democratic world.
- Read more
The key to building bridges requires courage to step outside of your echo chamber and compassion to meet others halfway. Here are a handful of tips to help you step outside of your ideological bubble:
- Be aware of confirmation bias. When’s the last time you challenged a belief you firmly hold? Take some time to try and prove yourself wrong.
- Seek out dissenting news sources. Motivate yourself to read news sources from “the other side;” subscribe to a new email newsletter outside of your comfort zone. By doing this, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the world, your industry, and the people who live and work in it.
- Challenge the algorithm. One of the biggest reinforcers of our echo chambers is social media. Take some time to “trick” the algorithm to diversify your feed by liking everything and following influencers from affiliations you don’t follow or typically associate with.
