Read on Twitter
I once wrote a thread on the echo chambers of twitter. I still think it holds water (check it out below), but I'd like to add a few more remarks about how my bubble on twitter breaks other bubbles for me. You might find the same holds true for you. 1/ https://twitter.com/GenreResearch/status/948149471728291845
The basic point is that the circles - if that is the right word - I move in on twitter is completely separate from the circles I move in in my analog existence, and thus they bring me into contact with people and experience that are markedly different from my everyday life. 2/
In the first thread I used the example of religion. I'm a Christian and many of the people I engage with on twitter are convinced atheists. Interesting and enlightening as that might it does not break any bubbles per se - I hang around a variety of convictions IRL too. 3/
However, I have other bubbles. So here are a two bubbles I seem to live in in my normal life that are broken by my twitter-sphere. 4/
First, I live in a white bubble. My university field, Danish literature, is the whitest of white fields. I can literally go years in my own scholarly context and never meet a non-white person. 5/
However, that doesn't even begin to cover it. My social circles are whiter than white. All my closest friends are white, etc etc ... you get the picture. Am I particularly proud of that? No. Is it a bubble? You betcha it is. 6/
My twitter-bubble however is much more diverse and it allows me to meet and interact with numerous people a little less pale than me. Other experiences other ways of seeing. Breaks my bubble - but definitely not my heart. Thank you for that! 7/
Second, I live in a straight bubble. All my closest friends are straight, and though my professional experience is more diverse, I don't spend forever talking to them about their experiences as human beings. We mostly talk shop. That's what we are paid to do. 8/
However my twitter-sphere is not just more diverse; it's full-on rainbow, and I absolutely love it. I have conversations I would never have, I see lived experiences that would otherwise completely elude me. 9/
Sometimes, of course, I understand jack-all. But through the amazing rainbow-twitterati around me am, I am learning that this is exactly a limit to my understanding and a damn fine chance to become smarter, more compassionate, more empathic, more human. 10/
For this I am deeply grateful. If I ever find wisdom; I am sure this was part of the path. 11/
So I am deeply profoundly unmoved by claims that twitter should somehow limit my vision because I experience the broadening vis-a-vis my starting perspective and my everyday life as a concrete and practical thing. 12/
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 13/
So, dear friends, your IRL-bubbles aren't mine, and these two bubbles are probably not your bubbles like they are mine. 14/
But I'm quite certain that if you take a look at the people you interact with in you everyday life and compare them to the people you meet on twitter, you'll find differences. These differences are a great chance to learn and grow. 15/
Embrace your twitter bubble. It's surely a place where you can learn something new. 16/ends
