It happens to all of us, every day. We scroll through our social media feed, unaware of the invisible hand gently nudging us towards information that confirms our existing beliefs. It’s confirmation bias, the silent puppeteer of your online experience.
The Echo Chamber
Imagine it: you, a hard environmentalist, bombarded with articles about the climate crisis. Meanwhile, your friend Eddy stumbles upon dozens of posts criticising environmental regulations. Neither of you actively seek opposing viewpoints; the algorithms have granted your wishes by curating feeds that echo your existing beliefs.
This creates an echo chamber, a comfortable bubble where confirmation bias reigns supreme, reinforcing your stances without ever facing a genuine challenge.
The unaware you starts to assume that everyone thinks the same as you, and gets enraged when finding someone who doesn’t. How is that even possible?
The influence it had in history
But confirmation bias isn’t just a modern invention. It’s a bit of a long shot, because freedom of speech was substantially different in the 2 countries protagonist of this example, but take the Cold War.
With tensions sky-high, both the United States and the Soviet Union interpreted the world through the lens of their own ideologies. American news outlets solely focused on Soviet aggression, while Soviet media painted the U.S. as an imperialist power.
Each side readily accepted information that supported their existing beliefs, while dismissing any evidence that could possibly challenge their stance. Among many other things, this confirmation bias fuelled Cold War’s paranoia and hostility, contributing to the decades-long standoff
Social Media, your favourite rabbit holes
It feels redundant to ask this today, now that social media are the most mainstream and easily accessible tools ever, but have you ever fallen into the comment section abyss, where discussions devolve into “my opinion vs. yours” battles?
Confirmation bias plays a starring role here. One tend to filter comments through the lens of your existing beliefs, selectively focusing on arguments that support your position while dismissing any opposing viewpoints as biased or just plain wrong. This, in turn, fuels the flames of online arguments, creating an environment where understanding and compromise become collateral damage in the war of confirmation bias.
Decades of this have brought us to approaching every argument, especially when politics is involved, like football supporters. It’s us against them, nothing anymore is ever actually discussed because the majority of people got so used to echo chambers, that the idea of having a discussion with someone that has a different opinion/viewpoint is seen a prepping-to-war situation
Breaking the Cycle – How to Be Less of a Potato
While confirmation bias can be a powerful force, we don’t need to necessarily surrender to it.
- Become self-aware: Recognizing your existing biases and understanding how they might influence your judgment is the first step towards mitigating confirmation bias.
- Seek diverse perspectives: Ditch the echo chamber! Actively seeking out information and engaging in discussions with individuals who hold different viewpoints is crucial.
- Embrace critical thinking: Don’t just accept information at face value. You gotta question everything, analyze evidence objectively, and be open to changing your mind based on new information.
- Use fact-checking websites: When you are presented with information, use fact-checking websites to verify the accuracy of the information.
The world is a complex and diverse place, and our understanding of it will always be limited by our own perspective. By being aware of confirmation bias and actively challenging it, you can go towards a more informed and nuanced perception of the world around you. After all, wouldn’t it be a much tastier world if we could all appreciate different “potatoes” without getting stuck in our own little gardens?
