Trapped in a Bubble With My Tribe

In his articles, Finding Your Tribe May Be the Hardest Thing You Do  and Three Important Steps to Building a Killer Tribe, Jeff Goins discusses the importance of finding your tribe. He describes a tribe as, “a unique group of fans, friends, and followers who resonate with your worldview”. Finding one’s tribe can be done in a variety of ways from social media, blogging, networked learning spaces (NLS) and meet-up groups. The way we define what our tribe(s) is/are how we each build and grow them varies.

While I agree that the idea of finding your tribe and the people who share your worldview and values is important, I can’t help but wonder if we are closing ourselves off too much. Eli Pariser discusses this in his TED Talk and warns of how if we surround ourselves with like minded individuals too much we are at risk of getting trapped in a  “Filter Bubble”. He gives the example of politics and the Facebook newsfeed. Let’s say someone has 10 conservative friends and 10 liberal friends and they tend to read and interact mainly with the liberal friends’ posts, Facebook is likely going to start filtering out content that isn’t being interacted with, creating a bubble. Pariser discusses how this can play a part in elections because people feel comfortable when they see so much positivity and likemindedness in their feeds that validates their views and cuts them off to the other side of the story. He warns of the danger this can hold.

At this point in my life I think I have found a great support network both on and offline. I know where to go to get support and where I am valued. I like the idea of having of a tribe in various aspects of life from work, to the gym and the ability to share and learn from one another. It is important, however, to remember to not get trapped in a “filter bubble” and remember to venture out and see what else is happening in the world.