4 ms·

Aren't echo chambers mostly self organizing? I just see this as a general problem and not something unique to Facebook. Culturally we seem to be moving increa

Aren't echo chambers mostly self organizing? I just see this as a general problem and not something unique to Facebook. Culturally we seem to be moving increasingly towards echo chambers as we are losing the social skills to be capable of engaging in dialog without immediately collapsing into emotional rants.

caymanjim 8y ago
Exactly. Facebook isn't dramatically different than your local pub, church, Elks lodge, knitting club, or any other self-selected social group. Singling them out and treating it like a new problem gives too much credence to the notion that it's a new thing. Think today's politics are divisive? Look back to the mass social unrest and violence of the entire 20th century (or farther, at all of human history). This is not a new phenomenon, and there's nothing unique about Facebook, the Internet, social media, or technology.
- JoeAltmaier 8y ago
  Except its millions of times bigger in its scope and reach. That makes it qualitatively a different thing entirely
- 394549 8y ago
  > Exactly. Facebook isn't dramatically different than your local pub, church, Elks lodge, knitting club, or any other self-selected social group. Singling them out and treating it like a new problem gives too much credence to the notion that it's a new thing. No. Facebook (and web echo chambers in general) are dramatically different. Because the available online population is so much larger than a physical community, narrower and louder echo chambers are possible. Back in the offline days echo chambers were more self-limited and internally more diverse, because the smaller pool of possible members meant too much exclusion would make the group too small to be sustainable. Now, every crazy fringe idea can have a Facebook group of 500 active members egging each other on, and use targeted ads to easily suck in every susceptible person.

caymanjim 8y ago

Exactly. Facebook isn't dramatically different than your local pub, church, Elks lodge, knitting club, or any other self-selected social group. Singling them out and treating it like a new problem gives too much credence to the notion that it's a new thing. Think today's politics are divisive? Look back to the mass social unrest and violence of the entire 20th century (or farther, at all of human history). This is not a new phenomenon, and there's nothing unique about Facebook, the Internet, social media, or technology.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago
Except its millions of times bigger in its scope and reach. That makes it qualitatively a different thing entirely
394549 8y ago
> Exactly. Facebook isn't dramatically different than your local pub, church, Elks lodge, knitting club, or any other self-selected social group. Singling them out and treating it like a new problem gives too much credence to the notion that it's a new thing. No. Facebook (and web echo chambers in general) are dramatically different. Because the available online population is so much larger than a physical community, narrower and louder echo chambers are possible. Back in the offline days echo chambers were more self-limited and internally more diverse, because the smaller pool of possible members meant too much exclusion would make the group too small to be sustainable. Now, every crazy fringe idea can have a Facebook group of 500 active members egging each other on, and use targeted ads to easily suck in every susceptible person.