Matt Alexander, on the muting ability of certain social media platforms and apps:
On the surface, it sounds perfectly acceptable. You grow tired of a certain topic or the exhaustive sharing habits of certain friends, and, without going all the way to remove them from your day-to-day experience, you simply quiet the portions of noise that bother you the most.
In a world of highly-curated opinions, deeply polarizing and heavily-politicized views, and rampant tribalism in the consumer sphere, however, the ability to simply remove certain opinions that are not adherent with your own is irrefutably dangerous.
The problem really isn’t with muting, despite Matt’s headline.
Here’s some more:
For all of this I mean to simply argue that when you’re next confronted with an opinion you disagree with on Twitter, a website, or another such outlet, do not simply tune it out. Equally, do not reflexively attempt to counter. Instead, simply absorb and consider. Keep it in mind.
Like I said, the problem isn’t with muting. The feature is what keeps me in Tweetbot. The ability to ban tweets all tied to a certain event or conference which I give zero craps about keeps my timeline nice and neat.
Muting is for nerds; tuning out others is mainstream. The problem Matt writes about is a huge one.
Here in the United States, most political issues split the country right up the middle. People hang out in their camps, ignoring the other side. It’s easy to change the channel and think everyone agrees with you.
For example, I think most know that I tend to vote left of center on most subjects. I can ignore Fox News and my mostly Republican family on Facebook. I can subscribe to subreddits where people think “Obamacare” is a good thing, and avoid those with GOP in the title.
That’s not a good thing, but at the same time, I really don’t care enough to do anything about it.
I’m not alone in that.
In closing, Matt wrote:
We have more power than ever in terms of shaping the way we comprehend our world — business, media, politics, or otherwise — and, although it might take more work, I’d say opening yourself up to opinions outside of your own is of the utmost importance.
That ain’t a problem caused — or solved by — a Twitter client.