Epistemic Bubbles, Echo Chambers and Social Media: Summary

Epistemic Bubbles, Echo Chambers and Social Media
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Epistemic Bubbles, Echo Chambers and Social Media
Introduction
In the modern age of internet connection and social media, it would be expected that people are more open-minded to information from outside their social and institutional circles. Increased access to information is vital in making the world accommodative to all people regardless of their backgrounds. However, as noted by Nguyen (2018), there is something wrong with the flow of communication. Despite the increased access to information, intellectual communities appear to clash almost all the time and basic foundational beliefs are no longer taken seriously. Further, people seem to draw contrasting conclusions from the same evidence. In a way, it seems as though the increase in access to information has resulted in extensive misinformation. Nguyen (2018) argues that the phenomenon is not a result of people abandoning basic reasoning skills. Rather, people are either trapped in an echo chamber or an epistemic bubble: both of which social media reinforces.
How does social media lead to a dramatic selection effect?
An echo chamber is an environment where an individual encounters opinions and beliefs that coincide with pre-conceived world views. Such information only reinforces current beliefs while leading to distrust of alternative opinions or beliefs. Nguyen (2018) compares an echo chamber to a cult. In cults, members only consume information from within the circles and information from outside is considered false, misleading, or even provocative to traditions and culture. This, however, does not mean that people in an echo chamber are not necessarily exposed to alternative information. Epistemic bubbles exclude relevant voices either purposefully or inadvertent. Unlike in echo chambers, people in epistemic bubbles are not exposed to alternative information besides to that which only reinforces their currently held beliefs. Social media plays a crucial role in the emergence and existence of epistemic bubbles and echo chambers as a result of dramatic selection effect.
Within the social media, the people we follow and the people that follow us make up our social circle. Time line feeds are mostly from colleagues, acquaintances, and friends who often share the same cultural, religious, and political views. Further, when seeking information, we are attracted to like-minded websites and blogs that provide information that resonates with what we already know (Nguyen, 2018). In the background, websites like Facebook and Google have algorithms that detect and store our preferences. Therefore, when we log in on a social platform of Website, the algorithm provides automated suggestion that ...