Very thoughtful, Mike, and I hope your optimism is correct. My thought is reality bites: when folks are hit with a recession, inflation or healthcare cuts the bubble must burst--all those 'media conspiracy' dismissals will no longer hold when the facts on the ground become obvious.
Info bubbles are burst when actions and events are so egregious that they reveal common ground between bubbles, were before none was perceived. This creates a line beyond which perpetrators of the egregious actions hazard to cross. There is a lot of "dancing" on or near this line right now, and more and more people are being forced to look beyond the boundaries of their bubble(s).
I appreciate indications of hope & and your thoughts on some historical and international parallels.
Can we say that one possibly exceptional aspect of America’s current info bubbles is the willingness to, even desire, of a large minority to close themselves off from non-cult sources? When the Iron Curtain was imposed, the State cut off outside sources. Many people at significant risk tuned into Radio Free Europe, or passed magazine and newspaper pages to trusted friends and relatives. Our MAGA neighbors turn on (Fox), tune out (truth) & drop out (of our shared national reality). I’m not hopeless, but this makes it more difficult to succeed at penetrating their bubble.
I agree that economic hardship will be a wake up call. I also take hope that human stories are impacting some of the low info folks. Stories about abuse of our immigrant neighbors rights, about hard working civil servants losing careers - well told real life experiences will continue to gain some traction. There but for grace…
Good article - thanks. A bit depressing to see the asymmetry. But I’ve also noticed that people are significantly impacted politically by the entertainment they consume. Right wing entertainment is decidedly less interesting and successful. Most of the top rated tv shows demonstrate diversity and tolerance by design or by the fact that America is just plain diverse.
Curious why Fox News and X are defined here as foreign (ie non-US owned)?
(Fox News a subsidiary of a US corporation, Fox Corp, is controlled by US citizens Rupert and Lachlan, and X being controlled by a US citizen Elon Musk)
There's much to be encouraged about and not to remain merely in total despair. We can observe that there are corrective actions being taken at a higher level and more broadly. My question is: What can I do to help move the needle in a civically healthier direction in my little corner of the world?
Very thoughtful, Mike, and I hope your optimism is correct. My thought is reality bites: when folks are hit with a recession, inflation or healthcare cuts the bubble must burst--all those 'media conspiracy' dismissals will no longer hold when the facts on the ground become obvious.
Our coming economic depression may be what saves our democracy
Info bubbles are burst when actions and events are so egregious that they reveal common ground between bubbles, were before none was perceived. This creates a line beyond which perpetrators of the egregious actions hazard to cross. There is a lot of "dancing" on or near this line right now, and more and more people are being forced to look beyond the boundaries of their bubble(s).
I appreciate indications of hope & and your thoughts on some historical and international parallels.
Can we say that one possibly exceptional aspect of America’s current info bubbles is the willingness to, even desire, of a large minority to close themselves off from non-cult sources? When the Iron Curtain was imposed, the State cut off outside sources. Many people at significant risk tuned into Radio Free Europe, or passed magazine and newspaper pages to trusted friends and relatives. Our MAGA neighbors turn on (Fox), tune out (truth) & drop out (of our shared national reality). I’m not hopeless, but this makes it more difficult to succeed at penetrating their bubble.
I agree that economic hardship will be a wake up call. I also take hope that human stories are impacting some of the low info folks. Stories about abuse of our immigrant neighbors rights, about hard working civil servants losing careers - well told real life experiences will continue to gain some traction. There but for grace…
Good article - thanks. A bit depressing to see the asymmetry. But I’ve also noticed that people are significantly impacted politically by the entertainment they consume. Right wing entertainment is decidedly less interesting and successful. Most of the top rated tv shows demonstrate diversity and tolerance by design or by the fact that America is just plain diverse.
A thoughtful and relavant discussion.
Curious why Fox News and X are defined here as foreign (ie non-US owned)?
(Fox News a subsidiary of a US corporation, Fox Corp, is controlled by US citizens Rupert and Lachlan, and X being controlled by a US citizen Elon Musk)
There's much to be encouraged about and not to remain merely in total despair. We can observe that there are corrective actions being taken at a higher level and more broadly. My question is: What can I do to help move the needle in a civically healthier direction in my little corner of the world?
One question this article raised was where you heard about young peoples' ability to transcend information bubbles. I hope that is right.
Yet, I saw this article from Stanford that says the opposite: https://stanforddaily.com/2024/10/29/gen-z-susceptible-to-fake-news/
Troubling.
Should be noted, though, it's from the Stanford Daily, the campus newspaper, so not exactly a peer-reviewed journal.
But they do cite some interesting data sources.