According to skepdic.com confirmation bias is defined as

a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and look for what confirms ones beliefs, and to ignore, not look for,  or undervalue the relevance of what contradict’s on’es beliefs. Numerous studies have demonstrated that people generally give an excessive amount of value to confirmatory information, that is, to positive or supportive data.

I’m about as guilty of this as a person can be.  The cable in my household was turned off in last December and Netflix is the video option of choice in my home.  I watch left leaning political documentaries, civil rights documentaries, and lately I’ve been watching a ton of documentaries about America’s downfall.  Rather I want to admit it or not almost every one of these affirms beliefs that I already have.

I’m really no better when it comes to browsing the web.  I’m on CNN.com, Facebook.com (interacting with people that share similar views), and Cracked.com reading articles written by people that share a similar sense of humor.

All of this seems to be one big circle of me puffing my chest out and reaffirming the things I believe in.

Am I a microcosm of how the internet impacts society?

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