Breaking Free from Echo Chambers: Insights from Reese
By Reese | May 6, 2025
When I looked at the clock and saw it was 2:17 AM, my heart began to race even more. I had been tossing and turning all night. This was the 4th straight night of not sleeping. How would I function in school? How would I pass my test? Why was this happening? What could I do to help me fall asleep?
I reached for my phone and typed, "Why can't I sleep?"
Sleep anxiety is the state of excessive worry or fear about falling asleep or staying asleep. It is a common condition that can significantly impact sleep quality and overall well-being.
Yes, this was what I had. I had diagnosed myself with sleep anxiety in the middle of the night.
When my alarm went off in the morning, I again reached for my phone. Out of habit, I scrolled through my Instagram. "Cure sleep anxiety," "Get this app for sleep anxiety," and "Eat this food for sleep anxiety." "Do these three things for sleep anxiety." I could not believe the countless posts about MY sleep anxiety. How did Instagram know? I immediately stopped scrolling and put my phone away. These posts were not helping me. They were making me more anxious.
Later that day, I researched "echo chambers" and "algorithm-driven recommendations" on social media platforms. The information I found explained what I had been seeing on my social media account—not just when it came to sleep anxiety, but also when it came to political viewpoints.
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An echo chamber is an environment in which somebody encounters content, opinions and beliefs like their own, and does not have to consider alternatives. Echo chambers are very powerful. They can quickly escalate trends and ideas. This can be helpful, benefiting awareness of key issues, but can potentially spread misinformation or prejudice. Only hearing one side can lead to believing things that might not be true.
Echo chambers on social media can negatively affect mental health by reinforcing pre-existing beliefs, limiting exposure to diverse perspectives, and creating a distorted reality, which can lead to increased anxiety, stress, and feelings of isolation.
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Algorithm-driven social media recommendations suggest content to users based on their past behaviors and preferences. These algorithms analyze user interactions, such as likes, comments, shares, and followed accounts, to customize content displays and enhance the user experience. The goal is to present content that aligns with individual interests, encouraging users to continue scrolling for more extended periods.
Social media platforms use algorithm-driven recommendations to create an echo chamber. A social media echo chamber tailors' content to the user's preferences, promoting similar and repeating material that reinforces existing beliefs. This method limits exposure to diverse viewpoints, narrowing perspectives, this can be especially true when it comes to political beliefs.
With social media and personalized algorithms, echo chambers have become a significant problem in our digital world. For example beauty trends and the belief that you need to be a certain weight or size can foster narrow-minded thinking and hinder the ability to engage in constructive and open discussions with others.
Knowing about echo chambers, I needed to learn how to break free from them.
Teens are rarely educated about echo chambers, even though we are more “online” than any previous generation. Unfortunately, too many statistics show how social media platforms affect teens' mental health, especially when echo chambers take over their feeds. To help me form independent opinions and break free of the echo chamber, I have learned:
The mechanics of social media algorithms so I can recognize when my perspectives are being narrowed.
How to question the information I see online by verifying the sources, recognizing bias, and considering the intent behind the content.
To connect with people and follow accounts who have viewpoints different from mine.
Over the last few months, I have successfully used many techniques and tricks to manage my sleep anxiety. I turn my phone off two hours before I go to sleep, I only fill my mind with positive thoughts, and I practice mindfulness breathing when I am not anxious to stay calm and breathe when I am trying to fall asleep. Since that sleepless night and scrolling through hundreds of sleep anxiety posts, I have become more aware of echo chambers. I am using strategies to form my own opinions on the content I see on social media.
Through my research, I aim to educate my peers and give them the knowledge and tools to break out of echo chambers and form their own opinions. Raising awareness about echo chambers and their negative impact on teens is essential. Getting teachers and parents to help teens understand echo chambers, how they are formed, and the adverse effects they can create would be a step in the right direction. With the help of adults, teens would learn to question the information they encounter, recognize bias, broaden perspectives, and establish boundaries like time limits to create healthier social media habits. It may not prevent algorithms from creating feeds on our devices, but it will give teens the skills to know that the world has many viewpoints and that their independent opinions matter.
About the Author
Reese is a sophomore from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. She is excited to share her experiences and write a testimonial for the #GoodforMEdia blog. Reese hopes to help her peers understand all the positives and negatives that come with growing up in the current digital world. She understands how important technology is in today’s society but wants to make sure her peers are aware of how it can affect their mental health.