Popping the Influence Bubble I’ve Been Living In
This post is unfinished. I published it anyway because I believe it still has some value. On the bright side, it'll probably be short! 😇
(comment or contact me to request an update about its subject matter)
Bill Maher often talks about the people who watch Fox News, and how they live inside an influence bubble that won’t allow contradictory information inside. Conservatives aren’t the only people who experience this, and I’m starting to realize that my own influence bubble is beginning to pop.
The Dangers of Isolation
I don’t ever want to be out of touch. It’s one of those things I see in older people, in politicians, and in some of my past bosses. They make uneducated decisions thinking that they know better because they are in a position of power or seniority. Usually the people who suffer are so detached from them that they never notice. That’s why I’ll always be that old man who tries to stay hip. That’s why I’ll never be a boss or parent that says “because I said so” to get my way. That’s why I fear the possibility of staying inside an ever-shrinking influence bubble, where my opinions and ideas are never challenged.
The Average Person
For several years, I’ve chosen to adopt a philosophy that based itself on the concept that every human being intends to do good. I needed the average person to be inherently good in order to feel that the human race (or at least this country) is getting better. It kept me in the mindset that we won’t always be as shitty as we are today. Believing it was very helpful for me to grow into the man I am today with a positive outlook.
I don’t regret using that philosophy, but in the last few years I have come to see how hard it is to stay inside that influence bubble. In order to keep my bubble intact, I’ve had to filter out so many things:
- All Reality Television
- All 24-hour News Channels
- All Daytime Television
- Talk Radio & Political Podcasts
- All Non-Food Magazine Covers
- Most Newspapers
- Drive as little as possible
- Unfollow lots of friends on social media
In essence, I have to shut myself out of the majority of common media. That is how hard it is to keep myself from thinking that the average human being is either a complete idiot or an evil selfish bastard. Now that my influence bubble is getting too tight to fit into, should I drop that fundamental philosophy?
The Slippery Slope
What happens when I start telling myself that the average person is short-sighted, lacking in empathy, and ignorant? The first thing would likely be an expansion of my ego, as I’d consider myself one of the “chosen few” that are exclusions to that average. I can feel the urge to embrace the idea that I’m an exceptional and special human being tugging at my defenses, even while typing that sentence.
It’s very difficult to keep myself humble if I have the mindset that the average person is missing many of the values I treasure. Humility and the general concept of “I don’t know shit, so I should keep listening and learning” are pretty important to me. I can probably try to keep the concepts together, but it would definitely be more difficult.
After that, my political philosophy might change too. Would I be more selfish about my money and call for lower taxes at any cost? No, probably not. I still have all that empathy to deal with. I would definitely feel like I earned what I have today a lot more. Luck and being born into the right home, as the right race/gender/orientation can’t take all the credit all the time, right? Is there some sort of middle ground for these seemingly competing ideas?
Expanding My Influence Bubble
I’ve been having some stress-related issues lately, and I feel that much of it is from getting frustrated about politics. Expanding my pool of media sources to include Fox News seems like it might be bad for my health right now.
5/22/2025 Update
I’m publishing this partial draft post because it marks a turn for me where I felt I knew enough about where I’ve sustainably found truth to choose specific journalists and outlets who do hard-hitting investigative journalism. And today I feel much more comfortable in the far-less-convenient life of reading a lot more, taking notes, asking questions, and clicking all the source links for any claims until I can find something scholarly or scientific — rather than turning on a television or podcast and being spoon-fed whatever my confirmation bias wants.
Turn off TV News. Get away from The New York Times. Stay away from outlets who use question marks or exclamation points in their headlines. Question anyone trying to justify violence or tell you to be afraid of people who are different, no matter what color their logo is.