I was reflecting on whether your daily paper – if you still read one – influences how you think. I now live in Spain, and El Pais and El Mundo carry different stories with different slants. Obviously ditto for the Times, Guardian and Telegraph. Not only will they take a different line on stories, but also choose which to cover. Read the Telegraph and it will be about immigrant crime, read the Guardian and you will get stories about poverty and so on. Not only may they influence your view, and but they also determine what topics you focus on.
Given that you also use social media you are exposed to algorithms. So if you read about crime, you’ll get fed with more crime stories. Read about poverty, and you’ll get a stream of more poverty linked stories. This is bound to reinforce your interests, and the slant you take on them.
Trying to stand back and take a balanced view is difficult. So the danger is that people become ever more polarised, sharing bunkers with like minded people.
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