Are bubbles good or bad?

Last week I had my counselling session, where we talked about personal bubbles, and at the weekend I re-read Elif Sharaf's How To Stay Sane in An Age of Division, where she also talks about personal bubbles, but in this text, they can be potentially dangerous and lead to echo chambers.

I've been thinking about bubbles for a while now, on the one hand I think my counsellor is right, a bubble that protects me and allows me to control what comes in is necessary for me so I don't collapse under the weight of my anxiety. But Sharaf is also wise to warn against increasing atomisation and living too much in personal bubbles and mixing only with other members of our own tribe.

Like so many things in the current climate, I'm drawn to the grey areas, the nuanced spaces in between. We used bubbles in Lockdown, we were able to invite others into our bubbles in order to maintain all-important connections. I am becoming increasingly aware of what is good for me and what is bad for my brain, with social media being something that I know makes me unwell, but that doesn't mean that I cut myself off from the news and current affairs, it means that I go to trusted sources, such as books and long-form investigative journalism. I also need to engage with my community and hear opinions and voices that differ from my own, so that I don't become too isolated in my own head.

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