The Most Dangerous Part of Social Media

Chris Brogan points out recent issues with race, hate speech, and the not so happy part of social media in a recent blog post, but doesn’t go far enough.

The most dangerous part of social media is this: you don’t have to see, hear, or participate in anything you don’t agree with.

You have total choice. You have millions of podcasts, millions of blogs, billions of web pages. You can subscribe to only the things you agree with, only the points of view that make you happy.

This has the net effect of making your point of view more extreme, and you may not realize it.

The great advantage of a time when there were three television channels was that opposing views HAD to be heard, even if some networks and anchors may have had subtle biases - at the very least, the other viewpoint was heard, if somewhat disparagingly. Today, you don’t have to be exposed to contrary ideas at all.

The only way to combat self-selected extremism is to willingly participate in social media outlets that are NOT in alignment with your point of view. Read news sources that you’re not comfortable or familiar with, like the BBC, Sydney Morning Herald, Jerusalem Post, Al Jazeera, Globe and Mail, Google News, and others. Listen to and subscribe to podcasts that are from differing perspectives. If you’re a liberal Democrat, tune into conservative talk radio from time to time. If you’re a conservative Republican, hit up a few of the liberal talk radio shows.

Go to social media meetups and actively network. Make friends with people in realspace that are outside your normal circle, expand your horizons, meet up for lunch with someone new.

Through consistent exposure to lots of different points of view, you can keep your own point of view balanced enough and wide enough to avoid the inevitable intolerance of self-selected media.

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