Breaking Echo Chambers: The Need for Discourse. The below are some thoughts that I’ve been posting in response to the horror that social media has become.
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No one wants to talk anymore. everyone wants a podium. When you fear discussion the smaller your world gets, the less you allow yourself to be challenged the tinier you will become. (at this time in history this is frankly dangerous)
Echo chambers are death chambers. Meet your edges. Grow.
talking means talking…it doesn’t mean going off on the other. Talking means being able to sit with the discomfort of discord and find a way to keep talking (take a moment if you need to…take a couple of days, even. it’s good practice to sit with discord)
It takes two to communicate. It’s okay to walk away from someone who doesn’t know how to sit with the discord. If you run off and block the minute you’re uncomfortable you’re screwing humanity and yourself. You’re not learning or growing.
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talking in order to bring clarity is important…different people have different skills and different edges they need to stretch. we need to be able to expand our view and understand that these short social media posts and memes can’t include all we think about any issue. If something doesn’t apply to you right now it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It might just mean it’s not time for you yet. It might also mean it’s wrong. Sit with the ambiguity. Allow the unknown to become familiar. Remember we individually know so little.
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Nuance is to often lost and people get triggered before they understand what is actually being communicated (only a small part of what that person may understand may be communicated in any given meme or brief coment). Pratice not making assumptions.
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we all need spaces to vent or share our particular expertise and/or distress. practice tolerance for people with different histories you do not understand.
expand the echo chamber:
- Speed kills… by Paul Woodward
- Working with conflict
- Responding To Organizational Conflict
- Conflict between the world as it is and the world as we believe it to be
- The basics of non-violent communication
- Communicating, Not Fighting
and yes:
If someone is denying your experience walk away… if communication fails to happen after doing all you can to open it up, then save your energy.
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I totally agree with you, Monica. Are you on X (former Twitter?). I am @Chitailova on it. I am also frustrated by social media’s absence of real discourse. Maybe we can start some discussion together.
I will find you on X but I’m really using blue sky at this point.