People are constantly hungry for fresh communication. It is about freedom of speech: the right to receive meaningful communication to feed one's thinking and as a basis for social action.
However, writing about something new or original is almost impossible. Everything we read contains and edits something previously thought or written. In addition, a great part of the messages available is not based on researched information or original sources - nor is this.
Despite the weariness of topics, the flow of messages on social media in particular continues to swell. In part, this is due to the personality of social media communication. This doesn’t make social media bad as such: private can also be public.
At the same time, the big players on the Internet and the algorithms that direct the flow of messages are strengthening their position as shapers of people’s thinking. Despite the seeming polyphony and freedom of choice, the flow of messages received by readers is largely selected for them in advance.
What was supposed to produce more enlightened, open-minded, and knowledgeable citizens produces bubbles within which different groups observe each other the way they were strangers.
The bursting of personal bubbles requires new voices, although they contribute to increasing the flood of communication. The key is to appeal to the best qualities in readers and not minimize but broaden their world of experience.
Walk with us, but not because we should start thinking the same way. But because we are walking towards the same direction.
Photo by Aaron Burden
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