What’s So Bad About the Echo Chamber?

After finding some cool people with whom I share interests I decided to re-join Twitter. I’d taken some time away from the platform because of the…less desirable element that appears on there. Basically, they were getting me down.

However, with my aversion to Facebook I realised that the only way to really talk with these new internet friends was via Twitter. I had found people that restored my faith in, well, people. I promised myself on my re-joining of the Twittersphere that I would only interact with those people whose opinions I truly valued. And if any of those undesirables were to raise their ugly heads again? Well, I’d just block them and be on my way.

Let me say here that I don’t go on Twitter to discuss anything truly “important,” at least not outside of environmental issues. I use Twitter to talk about pretty much the same thing I talk about here on Medium; comics, toys, video games and other geeky stuff. So it’s not like I’m some kind of MAGA-nut refusing to believe the Earth it round. What I do refuse to listen to, however, are idiots who seem to take pleasure in dissing people purely because of their interests.

Don’t Come the Raw Prawn with Me, Google! | by Joe Douglas | Medium

The sad fact of being a fan — of being a geek — of any kind is that there is always going to be a portion of the community who thinks you are somehow “less than” because you like something they don’t. The worst members of this subset will call you out on social media berating you because you dare to like a certain character or show or game series. Maybe you have a different opinion to them, so they yell at you for it. Or maybe they just send you snarky remarks hoping to bait you into some kind of argument. These are the people I block.

The thing is — and I’m well aware of this — , blocking these people basically creates and echo chamber. My Twitter stream is (mostly) full of people posting about how they love the same things I love. It’s a community love-in of geekery. And it’s brilliant.

Because of a certain ex-President we have heard much about how echo chambers are not a good thing. And sure, they probably aren’t when you’re talking about politics and social justice. But creating one on Twitter when you just want to talk about the stuff you…