What do you want to say today?

Well…I started writing an entirely different post today when I got distracted (no surprises there) by a tweet pointing me to this new post from social media thought leader Robert Scoble.

It’s an interesting piece on malleable social graphs, and he certainly makes some good points. I love trying out new social networks like Whrrl, Foodspotting and Miso. I get great ideas about where to go and what to do from people who like the same things I do. It makes sense – birds of a feather and all that.

However, take this to its logical conclusion and I begin to have concerns. Scoble writes “I told Facebook that I’m a liberal Democrat. So why am I still seeing Republican crap in my news feed?” He goes on, “so, its newsfeed is still presenting information to me that I might not care about and, in some cases, might make me angry.”

And here is where I stumble. Are we creating a society that can no longer tolerate differing opinions? By being able to pull only that information with which we agree, are we becoming one-sided, shallow individuals?

Scoble goes so far as to define “REAL friends.” Caps all his. “You know, the ones that are like you.” Yikes. Why would I want to surround myself only with friends who are like me? Doesn’t my life become richer for knowing and enjoying people who aren’t like me? I may not agree with someone, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be his friend. More likely – I should listen even more closely. I might (gasp) learn something.

I want my kids to grow up in a world where they not only welcome differing opinions, but seek them out. And yet, we seem to be going in the opposite direction. Don’t like someone’s opinions? Just block them. Looking for validation of your own viewpoint? Google it. Want to know what shoes to buy? Instead of doing your own research into quality, just check out to see what your networks are doing and follow along.  Trust someone else’s opinion. It’s okay. They are just like you, so they are probably right.

Yikes.

Has critical thinking become a thing of the past? That scares me. How about you?