Act: practical tips for building a more connected community
When you’re bringing people together, it doesn’t always need to be about overcoming differences. Put joy at the centre, and the connections will bubble up organically.
Jake Puddle, director of research at British Future
Understanding ourselves and navigating difficult conversations with compassion are important first steps to bridging divides. As you continue this journey, there are further actions you can take in your own lives and communities.
This work is ongoing, and we’d love to hear what action you’ve taken off the back of this podcast. For now, here are our tips for what you can do today.
Step outside your bubble
Why is this important? Social Contact Theory shows that interacting with people outside our usual group increases trust and empathy and reduces prejudice. Positive connection is the antidote to division.
How? Our experts suggest this can be as simple as:
- taking part in a community activity like a run club
- volunteering in your local area
- organising activities around events like holidays, cultural days, or sports fixtures.
These actions might seem simple, but that’s why they’re so powerful. The decline of shared spaces – from youth clubs to high streets – combined with our increasingly online lives has made isolation feel more widespread. While some of these reasons feel out of our control, research from experts like Jake Puddle shows that community-led social events bring connection back.
All the informal, fun, local ways we get involved – from football leagues to street WhatsApp groups or local volunteering – are part of our ‘associational life’, a vital part of a healthy society.
Be aware of your own echo chambers
Why is this important? Echo chambers form when we only hear opinions and information that reinforce our own beliefs. While this has always existed in our social circles, social media and its algorithms have amplified it by showing us content we’re more likely to agree with. Our experts explore the challenges of confirmation bias and how to spot and reduce our own echo chambers.
How? Tips to reduce echo chambers:
- Check your social media feed and think about: Who do you follow? What views do they represent? Are they mostly similar?
- Seek out a range of opinions, follow credible sources, and remove hateful or upsetting content from your feed.
- When forming an opinion, invest time into reading counterarguments to explore and understand different views
Critique your biases through media mindset challenges
Olaf Borghi, our episode three expert, suggests that thought exercises can help you engage more consciously with the media. You can try these alone or talk them through with friends, parents or children:
- When you read a headline, picture it with a different photograph. Does this change your understanding?
- When someone you dislike or distrust – a co-worker, public figure or politician – expresses a belief, imagine someone else saying it. Does your instinctive reaction change?
Compassionately challenge misinformation
Why is this important? Misinformation can have harmful impacts on communities, and with social media and AI it can spread quickly. Our experts explain how it can be difficult to challenge or fact-check deeply rooted beliefs, but there are steps you can take.
How?
- Report obvious misinformation or hateful comments on social media.
- Step back from debating misinformation online, where the risk of ‘debating with dopamine’ means conversations rarely lead to helpful outcomes.
- Use pre-bunking. This proven idea challenges misinformation before it takes root – by teaching people about what it is, how it spreads, and how to spot it themselves.
Ready to take the next step? Read our other guides for more tips and strategies from our Bridging Divides experts.
Reflect: questions to help you understand yourself, your beliefs and your biases