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As a counterpoint, I've seen lots of people become more accepting because of the way the internet connects people. If you lived in a rural place before, you lik
by vlunkr 6y ago
As a counterpoint, I've seen lots of people become more accepting because of the way the internet connects people. If you lived in a rural place before, you likely had very little interaction with minority groups outside of how they were portrayed in media. Now it's possible to interact with all kinds of people and recognize them as people instead of stereotypes.
I don't deny that there are echo chambers and major communication breakdowns, but I think on the whole it's a positive development.
- giantg2 6y agoHow does that work, like how does the connection get made and identity discovered? Generally I feel the echo chamber effect would be more common.
- halfmatthalfcat 6y agoOne consumes information online, that information causes introspection and a better perspective of one's identity. Usually it's not one specific event but a bombardment of information that over time, hopefully gives someone more perspective and their place in the world. On the other hand, it closes some people off and causes the echo chamber. Cuts both ways.
- philipps 6y agoCan you share some articles or studies that demonstrate the increasing openness? (I hope it’s true that it cuts both ways, but would like to see more data/research).
- giantg2 6y agoI don't know. I can see it going both ways, but I think that modern technology has reduced introspection for many people. In the news today, it's all about sound bites and hyperbolic headlines. I thing the intellectual attributes of news sources has declined. I thought I saw a study or thread on HN supporting the claim, but now I can't find it.
- adamcstephens 6y agoNews is very polarizing by design. Just like with social media, news profits more off of driving polarization. So they frame everything to drive traffic and viewers.
- weaksauce 6y ago> Generally I feel the echo chamber effect would be more common almost certainly is
- vlunkr 6y agoWell on more anonymous platforms like HN or Reddit it probably doesn't happen that much, but on youtube, instagram, twitter, etc usually identity is no secret. This is just more of my opinion, but generally the people I know that get caught up in bad echo chambers would have done so without the internet. The Alex Jones fans are just a new iteration of Rush Limbaugh fans, albeit more extreme. I think it's possible for otherwise reasonable people to get caught up in something like that, but they can also get out with time and more life experience.
- NoOneCaresAtAll 6y ago> Eskimos and now interact with Burmese political prisoners And how precisely does any of these parties benefit from said interaction?
- Dirlewanger 6y agoThis reads like a technocrat's hopeful vision of the Internet in the early 1990s. Sure, in theory it's true, but we all know in reality that that's not how the majority of humanity is using the Internet.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]