After the technological revolution of our society, social media arguably possesses the most significant form of influence over our lives in both the digital and social world, but what drawbacks does social media possess? How could it be detrimental to changing public perception?
What are ‘echo chambers’?
You might not have heard the term ‘echo chamber’, but you most probably have been in one. An echo chamber is an environment where an individual encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so their existing views are reinforced. When you watch similar videos with a similar viewpoint, and many more pop up on your social media or news feed is how social media algorithm reinforces your confirmation bias (your tendency to search for ‘confirmation’ of our beliefs by others).
How does social media affect our society?
Social media has revolutionised the way we interact and connect with family, friends and members of society - geographical distances no longer become a problem in keeping in contact with others.
However, social media and echo chambers have been crucial in social movements, changing political views and shifting the narrative. In a 2018 study that used a data set of rumour cascades on Twitter from 2006 to 2017, around 126,000 rumours were spread by around 3 million people - these false news reached more people’s Twitter feed than the truth. This shows how detrimental social media can actually be.
This is because a person’s awareness, personality and thinking pattern is shaped by behaviours and information in their environment, including social media and online information. Thus, it is important to evaluate information from various sources to form your own balanced opinions or argument.
Works Cited
BBC Bitesize. (n.d.). What are echo chambers? [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbwkbqt.
Cartoonmovement.com. (2022). Echo Chamber effect | Cartoon Movement. [online] Available at: https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/echo-chamber-effect.
CC Plus (2021). The Impact of Social Media on Public Opinion. [online] CC Plus. Available at: https://cc-plus.com/articles/2021/08/23/the-impact-of-social-media-on-public-opinion/.
Fotuhi, M. (2020). What Social Media Does to Your Brain. [online] NeuroGrow. Available at: https://neurogrow.com/what-social-media-does-to-your-brain/.
Vosoughi, S., Roy, D. and Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), pp.1146–1151. doi:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559.
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