Opinions, influence and open-mindedness

Rarely a good argument on its own, I'm afraid. What tends to shift people is direct experience or someone they trust. A man might insist for years that electric motorbikes are toys, then borrow his nephew's for a week and quietly order one. Statistics about charging costs never moved him; riding it did. Major life events have the same effect, which is why people's views on education often flip once they have children of their own. As for refusing to back down, I think it's mostly about identity rather than logic. If an opinion is tied to who you are, or to the group you belong to, admitting it's wrong feels like betraying your side. There's pride as well, particularly when the disagreement happened in public. In fairness, stubbornness isn't always a flaw. Someone who changed their mind every time they heard a confident speaker would be easy to manipulate, so a certain resistance is healthy. The problem is only when it survives clear evidence. On social media, my honest view is that it could make us more open-minded and mostly does the opposite. In principle you can hear from farmers, surgeons and people on the other side of the planet. In reality the feed learns what you already agree with and serves more of it, while disagreement arrives as an insult from a stranger, which persuades nobody. I do see exceptions, such as long-form interviews, but they demand patience the platforms don't reward.