Yes. Audience capture plays into it for a lot of people.
Discussion
I also believe echo chambers are not always “bad”. If one spends most of their day debating and attempting to convince others of their ideas, it’s nice for them to be amongst people who agree with them 😁. Almost a reprieve from the war of ideas, to regroup, replenish and then return to battle.
One just needs to remain humble and realize that their echo chamber is exactly that.
Disagree. I think echo chambers are always a net negative. If you believe something strongly, you'll learn more about your own opinions and beliefs by having them competently challenged. And if you cannot defend your opinions and beliefs in the face of challenge, then perhaps you should consider changing your mind.
Why can’t someone participate in both worlds? I follow individuals who challenge my ideas, and when I’m tired, I seek refuge amongst my people. If I am aware of those dynamics, I get benefits from both.
"The only way to make yourself stronger is to remove your safety net." - Chris Matakas
How would you define "my people"? For me, I would define it as my friends and family. I generally don't have a definition of "my people" that is based on ideology.
Wrong choice of words. I meant individuals who simply want to “play” and not engage in ideological debates. It could be anyone.
I’m going to make an assumption, please forgive me if I’m wrong. I see that debating your ideas energizes you. It fuels your mind and you revel in testing your cognitive limits. As it does for me, but sometimes I just want to chill and relax with people who agree with me. I don’t think it says anything about the conviction of my thoughts, or the willingness to change my mind. It’s simply a balance for me.
I am just outright fearful of the downsides of groupthink and out-group demonization. I think it's dangerous and leads to dark places.
I definitely agree with that. I would argue that this has, and continues to be, one of the root causes of the world’s worse atrocities. I agree with you that online echo chambers fuel it, but I was taking the other side, to see if I could find some benefit to them.
sikto, you’re confusing your emotional needs/wants with what it is to actually be able to argue purely with reason & logic (with what merits a probability of something being good & true or not).
indeed, an intractable problem that humans can’t seem to rid themselves of.