About a year ago I took a topics in EMAC course called Social Networks. Most of the coursework revolved around social networks in the more organic sense, with social media and digital networking not quite an afterthought but more like a close second. That makes sense, though, I guess, since to understand the nuts and bolts of how relationships operate online you first should understand how they operate IRL.
Anyway, one of our assignments for that class was to watch a TED talk given by Eli Pariser in which he warns us to beware of ‘filter bubbles’. Admittedly this is a concept that I probably should have been aware of before 2014, but I wasn’t, and I was equally horrified and amazed by the implications of it.
Basically what Pariser is warning us about is the algorithms that so conveniently give us just the things we want to see online. One of his comments, about how your Google search results vary depending on which account/computer you’re using sent me searching on every computer in the house to test his theory.
Huh. He was right. A particular Google search on my computer didn’t match exactly with the search on my son’s computer, or my husband’s. Not dramatically different, but still, different. Our computers, our Facebook accounts, and soon Twitter too will all be telling us exactly what we want to hear.
On the surface this seems like it would be a great thing. Block out all the noise and only see content that’s relevant to you. So why beware?
Those articles on political polarization are a pretty good answer to that question. The Pew study tells us that as a whole, politically, the American public is moving further and further from middle ground. Rights go further right, lefts go further left. This isn’t good news for politics because distance makes it harder to meet in the middle. Without going too much into my own political beliefs, I will say that this information made me stop and look at myself, particularly that part about how on both sides people believe that the policies of the other party are “so misguided that they threaten the nation’s well-being”.
Do I believe this? Yes. Yes, I do. Why? Because of the information I’m getting online? Probably. That’s where I get my news. And while I don’t get all of my news on Facebook, I do often start there. Facebook, where it seems I’m surrounded by likeminded individuals who believe the same things I believe and who are interested in many of the same things I’m interested in. I suppose that makes a compelling case for the theory that Facebook use is polarizing.
It’s a problem because it does us good to see opposing views. It’s good to know how the other side thinks. You never know, there may be that odd thing in there somewhere you actually agree with. Sure, it can be infuriating, but a little passion is healthy, right?
After all, if the sentiments you come across defy all logic and sincerely make you question the ability of the sentiment's possessor to successfully tie their own shoelaces, just remember that there is an actual condition in which the dumb are simply too dumb to know they are dumb, and it's possible that person is suffering from it.
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