四、閱讀測驗
There's a fun game I like to play in a group of trusted friends called "Controversial Opinion". The
rules are simple: Don't talk about what was shared during Controversial Opinion afterward and you
aren't allowed to "argue"--only to ask questions about why that person feels that way. Opinions can
range from "I think James Bond movies are overrated'' to "I think Donald Trump would make an
excellent president". Usually, someone responds to an opinion with, "'Oh my god! I had no idea you
were one of those people!' Which is really another way of saying "'I thought you were on my team!''
In psychology, the idea that everyone is like us is called the "'false-consensus bias". This bias often
manifests itself when we see in politics or polls. Online it means we can be blindsided by the opinions of our friends. Over time, this morphs into a
subconscious belief that we and our friends are the sane ones and that there's a crazy 'Other Side" that
must be laughed at---an Other Side that just doesn't "get it", and is clearly not as intelligent as "us".
But this holier-than-thou social media behavior is counterproductive, it's self-aggrandizement at the
cost of actual nuanced discourse and if we want to consider online discourse productive, we need to
move past this.
What is emerging is the worst kind of echo chamber, one where those inside are increasingly
convinced that everyone shares their world view, that their ranks are growing when they aren't. It's
like clockwork: an event happens and then your social media circle is shocked when a non-social media
peer group public reacts to news in an unexpected way. They then mock the Other Side for being " out
of touch" or "dumb". 【題組】39. What is likely to happen in an echo chamber on social media?
(A) People would believe that they may be misguided by misinformation on social media.
(B) People believe that everyone shares a common view toward the world.
(C) People are ready to talk to others who hold a different view from their own.
(D) People remain skeptical about online information.