Are Filter Bubbles Real?
1. Auflage Juli 2019
160 Seiten, Softcover
Fachbuch
Kurzbeschreibung
There has been much concern over the impact of partisan echo chambers and filter bubbles on public debate. Is this concern justified, or is it distracting us from more serious issues?
Axel Bruns argues that the influence of echo chambers and filter bubbles has been severely overstated, and results from a broader moral panic about the role of online and social media in society. Our focus on these concepts, and the widespread tendency to blame platforms and their algorithms for political disruptions, obscure far more serious issues pertaining to the rise of populism and hyperpolarisation in democracies. Evaluating the evidence for and against echo chambers and filter bubbles, Bruns offers a persuasive argument for why we should shift our focus to more important problems.
This timely book is essential reading for students and scholars, as well as anyone concerned about challenges to public debate and the democratic process.
There has been much concern over the impact of partisan echo chambers and filter bubbles on public debate. Is this concern justified, or is it distracting us from more serious issues?
Axel Bruns argues that the influence of echo chambers and filter bubbles has been severely overstated, and results from a broader moral panic about the role of online and social media in society. Our focus on these concepts, and the widespread tendency to blame platforms and their algorithms for political disruptions, obscure far more serious issues pertaining to the rise of populism and hyperpolarisation in democracies. Evaluating the evidence for and against echo chambers and filter bubbles, Bruns offers a persuasive argument for why we should shift our focus to more important problems.
This timely book is essential reading for students and scholars, as well as anyone concerned about challenges to public debate and the democratic process.
1 Introduction: More than a Buzzword?
2 Echo Chambers? Filter Bubbles? What are They?
3 Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles in Action
4 Bursting the Bubble
5 Conclusion: Polarised but not Disconnected
References
Index
William H. Dutton, University of Southern California and University of Oxford
'This is precisely the wake-up call we need: a book that blows up myths about "filter bubbles" and "echo chambers", showing how misleading these concepts have become. Bruns offers smarter ways of thinking about the issues and explains the real concerns that need our attention at a critical moment for media, politics, and public life.'
Seth C. Lewis, University of Oregon