OUR ECHO CHAMBERS LEAVE US WEAK




“If two people are thinking alike,

one of them is not required.”

An old saying

 

 

Today, this old saying kept coming back to me…

The same message has been conveyed through another saying:

“If everyone is thinking alike, no one is thinking at all.”

I can’t tell you how often I have come across the above sayings. But, today, they made me pause and reflect…

For some time now, I have been strongly feeling irritated with a few of my social-media friends. They have been relentlessly sharing posts – mostly, political or religious – which, in my view, are extreme right… Often, they are provocative. In the past, I have blocked many such friends from my social-media account. So, this time around, too, I have been strongly feeling the prompting to block them… My reasoning is this: “These fellows are not adding any value to my life. On the other hand, they are causing unrest inside me… So, why keep them? – just discard.”

But, strangely, this time around, I have not acted upon my instincts. Rather, I have let these ‘incorrigible souls’ stay active, by keep doing what they loved to… I am only watching my own instincts to whatever they are sharing…

That is it... They continue to do spread what they think is ‘good news’, while I continue to leave alone what is not good for my life. I realize, that even if I block a dozen of them in a row, another couple of dozens are bound to pop up…





Interestingly, I, also, observe this: I have been getting a strange thrill by consuming the posts of my several other social-media friends. They, too, share their posts relentlessly. But, I am more than happy consuming their stuff… Why so? Because, they are of ‘my type’, ‘my taste’… These guys feed my mind with the stuff my mind wants to thrive on – the views, news and everything that I want to hear, see and believe in. This way, I have created an echo chamber – a bubble – in which I hear my own voice, and feel very safe and comfortable…

The old expression ‘Living in our own islands’ seems to have been replaced by the expressions – ‘Living in our own bubbles’ and ‘Living in our own echo chambers’…

Learning to co-exist with people of contrasting views is a fine art of living in this complex world. I get more and more convinced, that no matter how much I wish to surround myself with people of ‘my own tribe’, it’s just not possible for me to live so… The way of the world is - ‘Live and let live’…






Living in my own bubble – my own echo chamber – only leaves me as a herd member… very weak.

As the old saying goes, “If everyone is thinking alike, no one is thinking at all.”

Left, Right or Center… All this is useless, if my thinking stops.

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: Pixels 1. David Yu 2. Gantas Vaiciulenas 

Video: TEDx Talks Adam Greenwood

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