Open Facebook and the patterns are unmistakable. It can feel like almost every post that we see mirrors our own preferences. Friends and family sharing photos and stories echoing viewpoints you’ve heard countless times before.

But is it our friends or is it social media that creates an echo chamber? A Michigan State University–led study explores how social media might strengthen or weaken echo chambers — environments where individuals are exposed to people and information that confirm what they already believe. The study focused on social media use and the attitudes of young people who leave rural areas to attend university and the attitudes of their parents who stay behind.

The study, published in Information, Communication and Society, compared 500 undergraduate students who had attended university for different lengths of time and one of their parents (500 student-parent pairs, 1000 total participants).