Dr. Todd Rose

Okay.

So here's a stat that blows my mind.

If you take what was Twitter, which is now X,

Research has shown that 80% of all the content on that platform is generated by only 10% of the users.

And here's the trick.

Pew Research has found that that 10% isn't remotely representative of the general public.

They are extreme on almost every social issue.

But you can see the problem here.

Let's say 10% of people hold some view, but you think it's 80%.

That error signal kicks in.

Unless you're willing to override that and go against what you think your group believes, what do you do?

You end up self-silencing.

You say nothing.

Or worse, you start saying what you think people want to hear so you can be part of the group.

And when enough people self-silence,

The only people left are the people on the fringes.

In fact, they almost never do.

They wouldn't have to be so loud, right?

If you knew everybody agreed with you, you don't have to say much.

But you can see how this is where then you get these societal level collective illusions because we're self-silencing.