On 8 February 2017, Tim Harford captivated an audience at Oxford University, explaining why the truth really matters. From friends to false news, Harford introduced many new theories as to why we believe what we do.

In world where everyone is subjected to social media, it is not surprising that a lot of information can be shared to countless people within a split second. Harford affirms it is just this that increases hatred towards figures such as Trump, whilst making it understandable why Brexit happened and Trump became president. Filtered fake news. That’s really what is the cause. Facebook shows you only the stories that it believes you want to see, hence why many people might say ‘Brexit? But I didn’t know anyone who was for it?’. Well although this may be true, it is a very one sided view. If one was for remaining in the EU, posts against Brexit would be present on one’s social media sites and consequently would see only articles of similar view. Even with our friends it was explained we tend to associate ourselves with people very much like ourselves, so it is expected that we never think many people disagree with our beliefs. To explain further, from an economist's point of view, our ideas on society’s opinions, as a whole, are very much decided by who are friends are.
 

Harford also demonstrated how many interpret videos based on self beliefs. For example, if you showed a protest video to both right-wing and left-wing supporters, one side might say it was a peaceful protest, whereas others as a violent act.
 

Today it is very common for false information to be continuously spread, so when the truth regarding the matter is told, it is very difficult for individuals to forget what was previously believed. Harford took the MMR vaccine as an example. Many don’t want it because they fear it could lead to autism, even though it has been proven otherwise. This is because people are so used to hearing this being said, that even when it comes to them deciding whether they want this injection or not, they associate it with negative consequences and thus reject it.

To summarise, Harford explained how our views on society are affected mainly by the people we hang out with - it is as though it is a filter bubble. We agree with our friends, we share similar news stories with each other and without knowing it, as a result, strongly limit what news we see. After a fascinating lecture, everyone went out discussing what had been said, whilst deciding whether it was time to make new friends!

By Annabelle Simmonds - Sydenham High School.