The Dangers of Living Online: Echo Chambers, the Real-Life Impacts, & the Importance of Community

Words by Ella Dorman

As social beings, we want to belong. We want to matter, to feel understood, to be acknowledged as worthy by those around us. We want to be trusted, to be listened to, to feel like we exist as something bigger than ourselves. This feeling of belonging plays a crucial part in forming and affirming our identity. So - what happens when we choose to seek this sense of belonging online, rather than in real life? 

The first forms of online communications came in the form of chat rooms, with niche-interest communities later emerging on MySpace and Reddit. These forums eventually snowballed into larger, prolific groups spanning the majority of social media platforms. From gaming communities to fan accounts and mental health forums, the online world has enabled users from across the globe to find people who mirror their exact interests and shared experiences. This considered, it’s not surprising that many of us, particularly young people, are choosing to seek community online. It’s a choice between the potential awkwardness of in-person gatherings, or forming connections behind a screen whilst portraying yourself as exactly the kind of person you want to be. 

Online groups can be life-changing for people suffering from mental and physical health conditions that prevent them from leaving the house, or for people who want to confide in others who share the same lived experience as them. These groups can offer hope, comfort, and support to those who need it. On the other hand, online communities can do the polar opposite when they turn radical by causing more harm than good. This includes endorsing damaging lifestyles, projecting an ideology that may inflict harm, or insulating users to the point that their worldview is entirely implicated by their group membership. This is where the potential for negative real-world impacts unfolds.

If you’re waking up to check in with the group and engaging in constant back-and-forth throughout the day, the sense of belonging found online can quickly begin to outweigh real-life relationships. The instant nature of online communication also maintains our enthrallment: short, snappy messages at any second of any day is what keeps you coming back - again and again and again. Online groups trigger your dopamine receptors to spike, keeping you hooked to the constant feedback loop. In turn, real-life interaction becomes incomparable, particularly if you are so-called ‘chronically online.’

Online spaces are designed to make communication frictionless. There are none of the complexities that come with in-person interaction: awkward silences, misunderstandings, reading tone and body language, disagreements. Online, you can simply log off if you don’t want to engage. Offline, you’ve got to grit your teeth through it. 

The ease of online communication makes it dangerously easy to detach from the real world. Over time, users may start to attach their worth and sense of self to the group, rather than to themselves or their offline relationships. This disengagement from the real world, where users are effectively ‘living online’, can in some cases create the perfect, self-reinforcing environment for an echo chamber to emerge. 

An echo chamber is a social environment where the dominant consensus reinforces existing beliefs, while opposing perspectives are actively invalidated. This produces a feedback loop that can be harmful to members’ worldview. In recent years, there has been increased coverage on radical ideologies springing from online communities - particularly ‘the manosphere’ and ‘inceldom’ and the subsequent implications on boy’s and men’s views on women. Due to the nature of these communities' belief systems, they can be described as echo chambers, as they actively reinforce a view without considering other perspectives. What some may perceive as harmless banter or back-and-forth has the potential to spur waves of hate speech, mental harm, and in some cases, violence.

The ramifications of echo chambers are real, and more than ever, we need to be making a conscious effort to create offline spaces that fulfil our desire for connection. We’ve become screen-dependent, and until we break our addiction to the online world in all its forms, it will continue to perpetuate harmful online worlds.

As the cost-of-living crisis has swelled, we’ve had to make sacrifices, whether that be shopping on a budget, cutting down on social events, or spending more time at home. With those sacrifices, we’ve become increasingly isolated and increasingly screen-oriented. We’re now accustomed to a life spent behind a screen, and whilst for some that can hold positive outcomes, living online has the potential to generate a damaging flipside with real-life consequences when communication goes beyond a certain safety line. 

We need to tackle the advent of ‘living online’ with community-focused initiatives and events that can actually mean something, but that don't cost the earth. We need tangible things that make us feel alive, away from the dopamine hit of screens. We need book clubs, sports, creative projects, street parties, and events that may not be perfectly curated, but that enrich our lives anyway.

As humans, we need each other. Whilst socialising online can be comforting, it is no substitute for meaningful, face-to-face interaction. When online communication oversteps a line to the point of discrediting alternative perspectives, it can induce real-life harm.

Online interaction is easy, streamlined, and addictive. In-person interaction isn't - it’s raw, it’s real, it’s honest - and a bit uncomfortable sometimes. But that’s what gives us purpose as humans - being a part of something where we truly belong - and we need to make that happen beyond a screen.

Photography by Ella Dorman