Don't get me wrong. The internet is a fantastic place to communicate. The issue is that it is too easy to hear the things we want to hear.
Today, I was pointed at The Things People Say by Elizabeth Kolbert in the New Yorker by my friend Josh.
The following struck a chord with me:
"...it is often argued that the Internet is a boon to democracy—if information is good, then more information must be better. But, in Sunstein’s view, the Web has a feature that is even more salient: at the same time that it makes more news available, it also makes more news avoidable."
In essence, an Echo Chamber and everyone falls into it's trap.
"The most striking power provided by emerging technologies," he has written, is the "growing power of consumers to 'filter' what they see."
Note: There is lots more to like in this article including: Rumors and How they spread, (Dis)Information Age and Cyberpolarization.