The 2016 Election made it quite clear that people are compartmentalizing themselves into various echo chambers of news and media that provide satisfying lies rather than the uncomfortable truth. As identity politics take control, some groups are becoming hostile to one another and dehumanizing to their enemies. They’re spreading lies, slandering people, and even resorting to violence.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter make it far too easy to slip into echo chambers. The responsibility to be wary of this falls to the individual, not to these media platforms. If you ‘like’ something on Facebook, the social media algorithm provides you with more of this content, and tosses out anything you skim over. If you ‘like’ an article from Mother Jones, you’ll keep seeing content from the left, but rarely, if ever, will you see content from Breitbart. The same can be said in vice versa. Facebook’s algorithm even labels you by your political views to help its algorithm find content you might like.

Articles these days have become increasingly agenda-driven. Maybe it was always this way. But thanks to the Internet as a whole, fact-checking has become increasingly easier. With millions of websites available, most anyone can find out about most anything.

However, this comes at a cost. We are susceptible to confirmation bias. Have you ever researched something with the desire to prove your point? Nowadays I could find sources to argue a point from every perspective. If I wanted to research the effect of increasing the minimum wage on economic growth, I could find sources that claim it would have no effect, and other sources that claim it would be devastating. This makes it all too easy to hide from the truth. If we really wish to be correct, both articles need to be read and their arguments analyzed.

The simplest way to escape an echo chamber would be to make use of identity politics. Look up the conservative, liberal, and libertarian viewpoint on each issue and pay equal attention to them. Personally, I find that the best way to remain objective is to reject identity politics altogether. People that follow an ideology can become agonizingly dogmatic. Even libertarians, who claim to be free thinkers, can be dogmatic. The phrase “What’s the libertarian stance on this?” has become so overused in Gary Johnson’s Dank Meme Stash that it is now just one big recurring joke. When looking for YouTubers, authors, or media to follow, find people that don’t flaunt any particular ideology. I consider myself a libertarian (or more specifically, an ancap) but honestly, I find myself in debates with libertarians more often than those that don’t fly under a term. I appreciate the work of Sargon of Akkad and Stefan Molyneux, both of whom don’t label themselves anything specific. I also appreciate both Dave Rubin, who considers himself liberal, and Steven Crowder, who considers himself conservative. Both of them feature guests on their shows that disagree with them, including one another.

A habit I recommend for readers is to visit used bookstores. Find the political shelves, and make sure that the cashier cannot determine your political views based on the books you have purchased. I emphasize used bookstores both to save money and to rid you of concern for giving money to authors you might dislike.

There are a number of methods to escape echo chambers. The most effective method is simply to be aware of your intentions. Don’t search for evidence for your side, search for truth. Don’t follow those pushing the same agenda, follow those that push for truth. And avoid religiously following any specific agenda. Instead, follow truth.

This blog post is also on Medium.