by Samantha Marie Lacuna |
What does your SNS Feed look like?
Nowadays, social media applications keep on spoiling us with the content we like, making two hours on the app seem like twenty minutes. Social media apps are crafted to present us with one engaging content after another through an algorithm that intentionally boosts the most relevant posts on your feed.
You see, the first few people on your Instagram story selection are there for a reason, and most probably, it is because you interact with their stories often.
This is how social media works, and consequentially, this is how the phenomenon called echo chamber thrives. An echo chamber is a social media environment produced by the mentioned algorithm that ultimately amplifies our beliefs by keeping us in a bubble filled solely with those that reflect our own. That said, being stuck in an echo chamber can further distort one's beliefs and perceptions of reality, fueling them with confirmation bias. According to Ma'am Virgilind Palarca, the school's cluster head for Media and Information Literacy, "Social media affects beliefs of people because it is the most pervasive and ubiquitous source of information.” For instance, it could convince us that vaccines are lethal or that a late dictator was the country's greatest leader. However, exposure to different points of view and engaging with conversations that challenge your beliefs are easier said than done but, necessary to break free from conniving echo chambers. Without a doubt, the problematic situations that could arise from being stuck in echo chambers seem dangerous, and with the upcoming 2022 elections, we are called to be more aware of our social media environment, given that this will be the politicians' main battlefield.
Campaign materials and propaganda will soon flood our timelines as they did six years ago when fake news was intentionally engineered to be all over social media. For Ma'am Jill, "Tactics such as historical revisionism are the top things we should be looking out for. This strategy allows tyrants, plunderers, and corrupt political dynasties to sustain their power. This is usually fueled by fanaticism and cronyism and its main goal is to brainwash the impressionable youth and the poor."
While it is true that social media does affect people's beliefs, how do these beliefs affect the way people vote? When asked about this, Ma'am Jill recalls the last elections when a candidate won through an online discourse for the very first time in the country. She says, "This happened because, at this point, the power has shifted from the elite and oligarchy, who used to control a homogenous media, to the typical masa who now suddenly had a voice, albeit misinformed." In challenging the pre-existing algorithm and echo chambers, Ma'am Jill emphasizes on Media Information Literacy. "The only way to immunize people, especially young ones, from disinformation is the vaccine called MIL (Media and Information Literacy). The earlier a person is trained to become media and information literate, the better."
Before you know it, scrolling past your timeline absentmindedly might get the best of you. It could be oh-so-fun, but it could be dangerous too - like when it throws you off your schedule or when it spoils you with the things you want or when it keeps you from seeing the other side of the whole picture. As much as our votes may be subjective on the information we consume, facts and history themselves remain unfazed amidst the deceitful system in today’s media and as citizens of the country, it is our responsibility to actively seek the truth beyond our feed.
Illustration by Andrea Andam
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