During my research I found some interesting things about the way echo chambers work. They all have the same patterns that make them what they are, which I will attempt to model in this post. Hopefully this model can be used to classify existing echo chambers of all kinds. An interesting thing I discovered is that echo chambers can form as groups, like a traditional echo chamber you would normally think off, but they can also exist in an individual. My research on echo chambers happened during a time when I was also overcoming my low self-esteem issues, and I discovered that the reason I had low self-esteem was that I had developed an echo chamber in my own mind. The principles are exactly the same, how wild is that!
What's the first thing you think about when you see the word echo chamber? Closedness? Stubbornness? Faulty reasoning? Those are the words that come up for me. Generally, echo chambers have to do with a certain closedness, but what kind of closedness? What happens when you show someone part of an echo chamber something that completely contradicts their view? Normally, they will completely dismiss it, for any reason. It's often not a good reason in your opinion, but it is a reason. You might get blamed for trying to influence them, or shamed. How could you think these things, are you stupid, uninformed?
In echo chambers there is also always an enemy, or a danger. Something that is coming for them to harm or influence them, something that threatens them. Think about some echo chambers you know, what do they perceive as their biggest threats? For the left it's the right, and for the right it's the left. Well, how do they respond to those threats? They attack them, reject them, ignore them, all of the above. They try to get rid of the threat somehow.
What does this lead to? When people are in echo chambers, all they see is more of others that are also in these echo chambers. If someone posts something that contradicts their view, they will dismiss it for any reason, as it is perceived as dangerous to them. This makes sense, because they have the idea that the danger, the other side, is actively trying to attack or influence them. When this idea exists, it makes sense that they actively try to avoid these pieces of information. They're just trying to stay safe, to their own detriment. The problem is that this idea leads to them remaining stuck in echo chambers, without them even realizing. This idea is incredibly good at hiding itself, as it appears very reasonable to the mind that contains it. After all, it's just perceived as a way to avoid danger. The fact that they now only see more of their own ideologies leads them to get pulled farther and farther into it. All their sources are from others that are part of their ideologies, and everything outside of it is dismissed. This is the core of the way echo chambers work.
To the readers of this post, please look at the sources of your news, other media you consume, and people you talk to. I want you to note how many of these sources are from like-minded people, people that are part of your own group and ideology. The idea that all other sources besides the ones of your own ideology are dangerous and untrustworthy hides itself extremely well, so please consider that you yourself may in fact be trapped by this idea. I'm not trying to threaten you or endanger you. If whatever I'm talking about in this post were true, wouldn't you want to find out? Wouldn't you want to know that you were potentially living in a bubble?
You can see it as an experiment, and if whatever I'm saying is false you can just go back to what you were previously doing. You have all the freedom to do what you want to do, you're not commited to anything. If all your news sources are from like-minded people, I suggest seeking out some completely contradictory sources and engaging with them, as an experiment to see if what I'm saying is true or false. Please don't dismiss them straight away, actually try to explore them, try to learn more about them, and their reasons for being the way they are and the reasons they believe what they do. You potentially have freedom to gain, and if what I'm saying turns out to be manipulation and lies, you will not be harmed in any way for just doing an experiment.
So, the general principles of all echo chambers are as follows:
- 💡 There is an agenda: This may seem obvious, but echo chambers always have a belief system which its members share, and its agenda is making sure this belief system is sustained. Often, in really big echo chambers, the agenda might also be to gain new members and to keep these members once they're in, but this may differ per echo chamber.
- ⚠️ There is a clear danger: There is the idea that something is trying to attack or hurt the echo chamber. The echo chamber reacts to this perceived danger by trying to get rid of the threat, by offense or by avoidance.
- 🥾 The echo chamber always dismisses information that comes from this danger: In echo chambers where gaining new and/or keeping existing members is part of the agenda, the idea is implanted into members that the danger is actively trying to influence the members to hurt them. This causes members themselves to reject contradicting sources, and this makes the echo chamber platform-independent. It's a form of self-censorship. Contradicting sources, including members, may also be hidden by censorship of someone within the echo chamber that has the power to do so. This is often the case with echo chambers that don't have keeping and/or gaining members as a part of the agenda, but not limited to them. In any case, the echo chamber always makes sure that contradicting information by the danger doesn't reach its members.
- 🕳️ The echo chamber becomes increasingly stronger in its beliefs: Because the only sources of information are now from within the echo chamber, the echo chamber falls deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole. The bigger the perceived danger, the more extreme the beliefs.
In all these principles, I'm talking about a perceived danger. This danger may or may not be real, and it may or may not be as big as the echo chamber thinks it is. It really depends. To not get stuck in preconceptions, there is a difficult balance to be made. On one hand the danger should be properly researched so as not to get stuck in an echo chamber. The scope of the danger needs to be properly assessed. On the other hand, this requires the researcher to expose themselve to a potential danger: a potential malicious influence, as the scope of the danger has not been assessed at this point, and may be more dangerous than expected. There is an inherent risk in exploring dangers, but there may potentially be a big reward: alleviation of fears, and thus freedom of mind. This requires some fortitude.
These echo chambers also form in individuals. If you have some bad experiences with people, this might lead you to believe that these people are dangerous. In the same way, these dangers will be actively avoided because of their perceived danger, which leads you deeper and deeper into your own echo chamber because you'll never get contradictory information. If contradictory information manages to reach your mind, there are all kinds of mechanisms at work which automatically make sure these thoughts get no foothold, mostly in the form of fear and anxiety bubbling up, or something shaming you for having those kinds of thoughts, or explaining the contradictory information away with faulty reasoning. Anything to make sure you don't engage with the thoughts. Isn't the parallel interesting?
In the same way these personal echo chambers need a fresh danger assessment, and this requires actively exposing yourself to the same dangers. This will spawn a lot of resistance by parts of your own mind in the form of fear, shame, or faulty reasoning. It will be extremely uncomfortable, but it gets better, and it's the road to freedom. It may also require reassessing contradictory experiences which have been rejected by your mind in the past, which requires some insight and awareness. The principles are exactly the same, and it all has to do with facing fears.
How do you detect if you're in any kind of echo chamber? This requires developing self-awareness and paying attention. Generally, things that make you anxious, fearful, angry or make you feel shameful are good indicators of dangers your echo chambers may be built on. When one of these is noticed as a pattern in your life, it needs to undergo a fresh danger assessment. The danger needs to be tested. This can be in the form of research and by exposure, maybe in the form of experiments. Of course, a fear of snakes is very reasonable, but a fear of other people might not be. This will need to be assessed.
There are some tools which make the detection process easier, which have been very helpful in my journey of detecting and destroying my own internal and external echo chambers. Expect a post about this soon. Thanks for reading. If you think a part of this post is incomplete or incorrect, please leave a comment below. I'd love for these principles to be completely coherent, so feedback is very welcome.
Edit: Thanks @bobman@unilem.org for the feedback in https://unilem.org/comment/536169! I've added the first principle that all echo chambers have an agenda, and changed the dismissing information principle to include censoring by someone that has the power to do so.