Echo chamber

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, I’m Neil Neil Neil Neil Neil.

And I’m Feifei Feifei Feifei Feifei. What is going on on on on on? It sounds like we’re in an echo chamber chamber chamber chamber.

And that, Feifei, is our expression in this The English We Speak. Now, if you say something in an echo chamber, what happens?

You hear the same thing back again again again again.

Exactly. An echo chamber is a room designed to create an echo - usually as an effect in an audio recording or a film. But it has a modern use which describes a situation where people only hear, see or read opinions they agree with.

I see. Just like an echo, they only hear the same thing they’ve just said.

That’s right. Let’s hear some more examples of echo chamber used in this way.

Social media’s a dangerous echo chamber - you never get a variety of opinion because all your friends think the same way.

How on earth did SHE win The Z Factor? Literally no one liked her on my social media feed.

Yeah well you should try moving away from your echo chamber and listening to people who don’t agree with you!

Echo chamber. A situation in which people only hear their own opinions repeated back to them.

It’s often used as a criticism of social media. Because people choose their friends and follow things they already like, their opinions don’t get challenged. So you only hear things you agree with with with with with with.

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes…

Bye bye bye bye.

Bye bye bye bye.

The English we speak from the BBC.