How to break out of your social media echo chamber

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View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions By Paul Sarconi | 12.28.21 How often do you agree with posts you see in your social media feed? Fifty percent of the time? Seventy-five? Ninety? Thanks to confirmation bias and powerful algorithms, social platforms often amplify the voices and viewpoints we gravitate toward most. Over time, this can turn slight preferences into a polarized environment in which only the most extreme opinions break through the noise. These are called echo chambers, and if you've been on social media at all in the last few years, you already know they deepen societal divisions to a dangerous degree. To help you introduce balance back into your feed, we explore the ways confirmation bias manifests on social media and suggest steps you can take to fight back against the algorithms. Read our guide to breaking out of your social media echo chamber, plus a few other tips and tricks, below. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.     How to Break Out of Your Social Media Echo Chamber Platforms like Facebook are designed to profit from humans' confirmation bias. Here's how to restore balance to your feed. Hide Your Instagram Likes—and Be Free A feed without likes is far from a revolution. But I want to enjoy this summer with my friends, not my metrics. When to Reply on Social Media—and When to Not Sometimes the best thing to do on Twitter or Facebook is to just shut up … isn't it? 4 Tips to Send (and Receive) Better Texts Sure, hitting send is easy. But these tips can help make sure everyone's messages are coming across loud and clear. How to Set Healthy Boundaries With Your Fitness Tracker A smart wearable can be useful and fun—until it starts to fuel an obsession with numbers. GET WIRED HOLIDAY SALE! Get WIRED for just $10 $5. Get the print edition and exclusive subscriber-only stories. Give yourself the gift of information. Subscribe now.       Have questions or comments? Reply to this email.   When you buy something using the retail links in this email, we earn a small affiliate commission. Read more about how this works.   This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions