I typed out the below as a response to you, then reread what you wrote. We might be making the same point just with different words. Hopefully I'm not coming across as overly adversarial.

I think most people on social media, including lemmy, exist in an echo chamber that amplifies specific views to the point that it becomes easy to think those views are much more broadly held then they actually are.

Changing the question around like you suggest might help some people realize that, but I also think that there are a lot of people who think that the views expressed in their slice of social media are actually indicative of broader trends.

I also don't think I'm immune to this effect, but I do feel somewhat compelled to point out specific instances of it when I notice it.

[–] Lfrith@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

What I wrote might have been confusing, but I was trying say that places like lemmy may have view points that express preferences that aren't representative of the mainstream. Like how there may be more positive Linux comments on average per user.

But, that it doesn't necessarily mean the people expressing those views believe them to be representative of the mainstream. It is more just them expressing their thoughts.

However, people I found across social media can mistake what are simply individual opinions as general proclamations, and immediately jump to "Oh this person is claiming that their view point is one most people hold. What a bold claim." When all they were saying was I like turtles as opposed to most people like turtles.