What is Confirmation Bias, anyway? It might be the most important thing you’ll learn while becoming a better digital citizen.
Confirmation Bias Defined
According to Britannica “Confirmation bias, is the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs. This biased approach to decision-making is largely unintentional and often results in ignoring inconsistent information.”
In short, we love and believe the things we see online that agree with what we already believe. And we ignore or distrust any information that goes against those beliefs. Regardless of whether they’re true or not.
How is Confirmation Bias used online?
We love seeing information that agrees with us so search engines and social media algorithms keep sending us information that agrees with what we already believe. We love it so much, we stick around longer. Our attention is the currency of the internet. If we like what we see we hang around longer and look at more ads.
Why is Confirmation Bias online such a bad thing?
We start to think that everyone thinks the way we do, so when we meet someone who doesn’t we think they’re crazy of wildly ill-informed. All too often we don’t really understand any counterarguments to the way we already think. Perhaps worst of all, sometimes we start to see more and more extreme views in the direction we already believe because it’s exciting and we spend more time consuming that information. It leads to all kinds of deep divisions in society we’re now seeing all over the world. Everyone is shouting and no one is listening because we’re all so sure we’re right. Everything I see online tells me I’m right.
What can we do?
We desperately need to understand that it’s not up to Google or Facebook to give us a reasonable argument from the other side of a contentious issue. It’s up to us. Find well-researched and well-reasoned articles online. Or better yet, find someone you trust that has a differing view and have a respectful, calm conversation about it. Both of you do your research and make sure to state where you sourced your information from. You don’t have to agree with them to have a much better understanding of the issue at hand.
Kermode Can Help
Kermode is an eLearning platform that helps teachers, students, and families become smarter, safer, and kinder online. We build better digital citizens with cutting-edge software that helps users evaluate online content, build media literacy skills, and think critically about all the information they consume online. Sign up today!
Or contact us to find out more at info@kermodeeducation.com.
