Yesterday, the day following Election Day concerning the 2024 United States presidential election, I made the decision not to publically share any blog content in reference to salt-mining—deliberate attempts at provoking people to self-disturbance.
I stated as much in a blog entry entitled Be Humble. Nevertheless, I did opt to observe the product of those who amassed proverbial mounds of salt collected from the tears of people who upset themselves with illogical and unreasonable (collectively “irrational”) beliefs.
Personally, Donald Trump was obviously going to prevail in the election over Kamala Harris. What I didn’t predict was that he’d win both the popular and the Electoral College vote, or that Republicans would take the Senate majority while the House currently remains in the balance.
In any case, discussing our observations, a friend and I witnessed a veritable salt mine of content stemming from Reddit. For context regarding the social media platform, consider my perspective which was shared in a blogpost entitled Destroying a Relationship:
I once suggested to a client that a significant amount of content I’ve observed on Reddit appears to be that related to psyops (psychological operations)—government use of a person or phenomenon to influence a population’s opinions and attitudes. Of course, this is conjecture.
One reason why I speculate a psyops nature of the popular platform is because it appears to mostly maintain sociopolitical sentiment from one side of the partisan aisle. Anecdotally, it’s an incredibly imbalanced perspective that serves as an echo chamber, of which one source states:
In news media and social media, an echo chamber is an environment or ecosystem in which participants encounter beliefs that amplify or reinforce their preexisting beliefs by communication and repetition inside a closed system and insulated from rebuttal.
An echo chamber circulates existing views without encountering opposing views, potentially resulting in confirmation bias.
Echo chambers may increase social and political polarization and extremism. On social media, it is thought that echo chambers limit exposure to diverse perspectives, and favor and reinforce presupposed narratives and ideologies.
Although the echoing effect of Reddit may be organic I speculate about its psyops nature, because much of the content I’ve encountered appears to be fabricated in alignment with the Democratic National Committee. Truly, I have no evidence to support this supposition.
In any case, my friend and I discussed the utter irrational belief-influenced meltdown that produced tons of salt. Surprisingly, I discovered one user who apparently noted a similar echoing effect within the caverns of the salt mine. The Redditor stated:
Americans! If Trump won most of the votes, why does majority of reddit seem to hate him? (Look at current most popular posts) Is it that reddit is a echochamber of mostly one type of people?
The thoughtful Redditor inquiry was met with the sort of smarminess I’ve come to expect from the social media echo chamber. Regarding this matter, one source states:
“Social media sites foster confirmation bias because of their basic function. Regardless of the specific algorithm, social media sites like Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, and even YouTube, serve the same basic function: to connect groups of like-minded users together based on shared content preferences.”
This is fed off of confirmation bias, which describes the way people perceive and take in information by filtering it through our preexisting beliefs and opinions.
“Social media companies therefore rely on adaptive algorithms to assess our interests and flood us with information that will keep us scrolling. The algorithms ignore the recency and frequency of what our friends are posting and instead focus on what we ‘like,’ ‘retweet,’ and ‘share’ to keep feeding content that is similar to what we’ve indicated makes us comfortable.”
What brings us comfort is taking in media that already tells us what we agree with, but we must fight this.
The aforementioned source outlines a foreseeable problem with comfort-seeking behavior which is fueled by confirmation bias. Likewise, it makes use of a recommendatory must statement – offering what is presumably a helpful prescription for the well-being of society.
Fighting the influence that a Reddit echo chamber has on you begins with taking personal responsibility and accountability for your own use of its social media algorithm. For instance, you aren’t a victim of Reddit or the type of content with which you choose to engage.
If all a Redditor consumed was pro-Harris content within the burgeoning salt mine of sub-Reddits, then exploitative miners would inevitably harvest a bounty of salt once one’s preconceived and idealistic notions were met with real-world experience. The salt doth flow!
Using rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), I can teach you how to take yourself out of an echo chamber, out of the proverbial salt mine, and out of a self-victimized experience of self-disturbance. If you’d like to know more, I look forward to hearing from you.
If you’re looking for a provider who works to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply helping you to feel better, I want to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
References:
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Huge_Appointment6863. (2024, November 6). Americans! If Trump won most of the votes, why does majority of reddit seem to hate him? (Look at current most popular posts) Is it that reddit is a echochamber of mostly one type of people? [Post]. Reddit. Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/OptimistsUnite/comments/1gl5qwu/americans_if_trump_won_most_of_the_votes_why_does/
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