Are you in an online bubble?

Ivan Radford considers how online echo chambers can shape the way we treat others.

Can you imagine a world where everyone had exactly the same opinion? Where everyone supported the same football team? Where everyone queued up for the same sandwich in the same shop at the same time of day? That would get boring after a while, right? Plus you’d have to wait for hours to get a sandwich.

Living in this digital age can become like that. We can become surrounded solely by people and things that reflect our opinions back at us. There’s a term for it you’ve probably heard before: echo chambers. ‘I know all about echo chambers,’ you might say to yourself. ‘I’m surrounded by people who know all about them.’ That’s the tricky thing: we often don’t realise we’re in them.

That’s because of another word you’ve probably heard before: algorithms. An algorithm is a computer code that carries out a specific process or rule. Almost all the content you consume digitally is selected for you by a series of algorithms, which are rooted in the same human trait: confirmation bias, the human habit of preferring things that support our existing opinions.

Whether you’re scrolling through Facebook, TikTok or search engine results, what you’re being shown is personalised to you. Browsing Netflix? Even the images for the titles are programmed to match your data profile. Because whether it’s a smartphone, an online retailer or a media company, their products are designed to keep you engaged – to keep you scrolling, clicking and buying. And people tend to do that more if they’re being reinforced by things that agree with them.

Technology itself isn’t a bad thing: it just has a way of highlighting and reflecting human flaws in new ways. The more we’re echoed back to ourselves, though, the less we might grow or develop, because we have less experience of listening to other people. Potential impacts of that can include pockets of misinformation – or, in extreme cases, radicalisation into harmful views – polarised debates and a lack of compassion in our interactions. We can lose sight of the two-way nature of conversation, regardless of the topic.

‘I would never be argumentative,’ you might say to yourself. ‘I’m surrounded by people who all say the same things I do.’

That’s one of the reasons why the territory’s vision, mission and values are so important: they provide a united theological framework that signposts us back to the constant truth of God’s word. Our values include boldness and passion, but these go hand in hand with integrity and mutual accountability and are inseparable from compassion and respect.

‘Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,’ Romans 12:3 reminds us. Respecting others is rooted in humility. It’s a cornerstone of equality, inclusion and diversity, and it leads to deeper relationships with other people. Through these connections – through listening respectfully to the experiences and perspectives of other people, who have also been created in the image of God – we can build a richer, fuller understanding of God for ourselves. God’s love then shines all the brighter in our interactions as we ‘live in harmony with one another’ (Romans 12:16).

It can be so easy to separate our faith from the world around us and keep the two in different bubbles. But we’re not called to do that. 1 Corinthians 10:31 tells us: ‘Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.’ Living out our mission and values applies to every part of our daily lives – including how we navigate the digital structures of a modern world.

What content do algorithms currently recommend to you? How intentionally do you listen to other people? How can you show God’s love in your interactions?