User:KatieEle/New sandbox

Echo chamber (media)

In news media, an echo chamber is a metaphorical description of a situation in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system. By visiting an "echo chamber", people are able to seek out information that reinforces their existing views, potentially as an unconscious exercise of confirmation bias. Doing so may increase social and political polarization, as well as extremism. The term is a metaphor based on the acoustic echo chamber, where sounds reverberate in a hollow enclosure. Another emerging term for this echoing and homogenizing effect on the Internet within social communities is cultural tribalism. Many scholars note the effects that echo chambers can potentially have on citizen's stance and viewpoints, considering the

In news media, an echo chamber is a metaphorical description of a situation in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system. By visiting an "echo chamber", people are able to seek out information that reinforces their existing views, potentially as an unconscious exercise of confirmation bias. Doing so may increase social and political polarization, as well as extremism. The term is a metaphor based on the acoustic echo chamber, where sounds reverberate in a hollow enclosure. Another emerging term for this echoing and homogenizing effect on the Internet within social communities is cultural tribalism. Many scholars note the effects that echo chambers can potentially have on citizen's stance and viewpoints, more specifically what implications this effect will have on politics.

Implications of Echo Chamber's
Online social communities become fragmented by echo chambers when like-minded people group together and members hear arguments in one specific direction with no counter argument addressed. In certain online platforms, such as Twitter, echo chambers are more likely to be found when the topic is more political in nature compared to topics that are seen as more neutral. Social networking communities are powerful reinforcement's of rumors because people trust evidence supplied by their own social group, more than they do the news media. This can create significant barriers to critical discourse within an online medium. Social discussion and sharing can potentially suffer when users are given have a narrow information base and don't reach outside their network. The echo chambers can be detrimental to the well-being of a person. Essentially, the filter bubble can distort our very own realities that we thought could not be altered by outside sources. The Farnam Street academic blog explains that the filter bubble can have a bigger impact on us than we think. It can create echo chambers that leads us to believe that what you are seeing through ads is the only opinion or perspective that is right. This goes back to political ads that were constantly in circulation on the internet making the user think that it is the only correct opinion out there. Put otherwise, “If we don’t like facts, we don’t believe them. If we DO like something presented to us as fact, even if it is false, we tend to believe it. If we see too much of our viewpoint and perspectives everyday, we believe that there are no other opinions and that ours is the correct one in all cases."

Many offline communities are also segregated by political beliefs and cultural views. The echo chamber effect may prevent individuals from noticing changes in language and culture involving groups other than their own. Online echo chambers can sometimes influence an individual’s willingness to participate in similar discussions offline. A 2016 study found that “Twitter users who felt their audience on Twitter agreed with their opinion were more willing to speak out on that issue in the workplace”.

Examples

Ideological echo chambers have existed in many forms, for centuries. However since the creation of the internet, scholars have been curious to see the changes in political communication. Due to the new changes in information technology and how it's managed, understanding opposing perspectives and reaching a common ground in a democracy has been up for debate. The effects seen from the echo chamber effect has largely been cited to occur in politics as the effects of this fragmenting media exposure method as described in each of these examples:


 * The McMartin preschool trial coverage was criticized by David Shaw in his 1990 Pulitzer Prize winning articles, "None of these charges was ultimately proved, but the media largely acted in a pack, as it so often does on big events, and reporters' stories, in print and on the air, fed on one another, creating an echo chamber of horrors." Shaw stated that this case "exposed basic flaws" in news organizations such as "Laziness. Superficiality. Cozy relationships" and "a frantic search to be first with the latest shocking allegation". His regard to mention "Reporters and editors often abandoned" journalistic principles of "fairness and skepticism." And "frequently plunged into hysteria, sensationalism and what one editor calls 'a lynch mob syndrome'" further supports the echo chamber effect and how it alters the coverage of specific types of media.
 * The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal reporting was chronicled in Time Magazine's 16 February 1998 "Trial by Leaks" cover story "The Press And The Dress: The anatomy of a salacious leak, and how it ricocheted around the walls of the media echo chamber" by Adam Cohen. This case was also reviewed in depth by the Project for Excellence in Journalism in "The Clinton/Lewinsky Story: How Accurate? How Fair?"
 * AS of the fall of 2014, it is said that the Gamergate attacks and journalists' responses have been alleged to be echo chambers.
 * A New Statesman essay argued that echo chambers were linked to the UK Brexit referendum.
 * The 2016 presidential election in the United States triggered a stream of discourse about the echo chamber in media. Constituents were more likely to absorb information about topics such as gun control and immigration that aligned with their preexisting beliefs, as they were more likely to view information they already agreed with. Facebook is more likely to suggest posts that are congruent with your standpoints; therefore there was mainly repetition of already stable standpoints instead of a diversity of opinions. Journalists argue that diversity of opinion is necessary for true democracy as it facilitates communication, and echo chambers, like those occurring in Facebook, inhibited this. Some believed echo chambers played a big part in the success of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential elections.
 * The subreddit /r/incels and other online incel communities have also been described as echo chambers.
 * discussion of opioid drugs as suitable for long-term pain maintenance

Twitter has been described as a liberal echo chamber where just 6% of U.S. adults on Twitter account for 73% of tweets about national politics

Counterarguement


 * One of the core concepts of echo chambers in media, is that participants are only exposed to content that reinforce their own already existing beliefs. In a counterargument of the existence of such a model Axel Bruns, a professor at the Queensland University of Technology, consults a survey released by the Pew Research Center regarding the social media political environment of American adults prior to the 2016 election. The report found that “50% of social media users have been surprised by one of their social media connections’ political views, and only 23% of users on Facebook and 17% on Twitter now say with confidence that most of  their contacts’ views are similar to theirs.”  In addition to this, research regarding people's use of the internet for political information from 2004 reflects results that supports the notion regarding viewing more of what they agree with.  But also specified that there was no corresponding decline in the opposing information that they viewed. Such findings directly contradict the notion that social media only shows participants what they want to see and agree with.
 * Social scientist argue that "Americans do not follow politics closely, and surveys overestimate the proportion that does" with research to support that this is indeed true, even given the advancement of education from recent decades.

In news media, echo chamber is a metaphorical description of a situation in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system. By visiting an "echo chamber", people are able to seek out information that reinforces their existing views, potentially as an unconscious exercise of confirmation bias. This may increase social and political polarization and extremism. The term is a metaphor based on the acoustic echo chamber, where sounds reverberate in a hollow enclosure.

Another emerging term for this echoing and homogenizing effect on the Internet within social communities is cultural tribalism.