AerusFlameweaver

AerusFlameweaver t1_jeeqhlm wrote

People are easily radicalized, but social media expedites the process. It has to do with how we’re hardwired to deal with opinions we don’t like.

Let’s say your views of a game are on a 0-100 spectrum. A 0 means you despise the game and a 100 means you think it’s perfect. Let’s say you’re naturally sitting around 40, net negative with some nuanced criticism but a considerable bit of praise.

The way we work, if you’re exposed to someone with, let’s say, a 60 viewpoint, you’ll find yourself pretty similar and might actually leave the interaction somewhere around 45. If instead you are exposed to someone with a 100 viewpoint, you view them so far off that it further entrenches you into your position. You may leave that interaction with a 30 viewpoint.

Social media rapidly expedites these interactions and determinations, and people rapidly push to the extremes. We do it in “real life” too, just at a slower more refined pace.

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AerusFlameweaver t1_jeeoexo wrote

Man, what a trip. I read the entire thing, and found myself impressed by the author’s thoroughness and focus on the emotional impacts of different types of light.

Then I got to the very last paragraph and found out the author is an idiot who can’t even tell LEDs and incandescents apart in a restaurant.

Oof.

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