EOTO - ECHO CHAMBER

 Listening to other EOTO presentations again was extremely beneficial I think for everyone. We learned about so many different key concepts related to current news and events happening in the U.S.

One concept that I found extremely relevant was the Echo Chamber. I had never really heard of this before and with the relevance of the election, it was extremely useful and fascinating to learn about. 

An Echo Chamber is an environment where only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own. Basically what this means is that people are only listening and reinforcing the same one-sided beliefs over and over again, never allowing for counter-argument or discussions. 

One of the concerns talked about was the possibility of misinformation within echo chambers. I looked at it as almost like someone can brainwash you with their beliefs and they might not even be true since no one ever argues it. 

https://observatory.tec.mx/edu-news/echo-chambers-critical-thinking-crisis

What I found most interesting from the presentation was the fact that you can be caught in an echo chamber not only in real life but also online. Keeping with the topic of the presidential election, you might be caught in an echo chamber between your peers, meaning you all sit around in support of one candidate or party and only talk about your similar opinion never having anyone oppose. However, this can also happen online. Looking at social media algorithms that you’re interested in or in support of is most likely the only side that will pop up on your screen. For example, if you are on Tik Tok and you began to constantly be liking or sharing videos that are in support of the Democratic Party, the algorithm will make that the main and most reoccur ant theme on your page, and will not advertise videos that showcase the Republican Party. Therefore, without even doing it yourself, you have entered an echo chamber.