Eli Pariser and “Filter Bubbles”
Filter bubbles are an interesting concept that essentially defines what information we’re exposed to online based on our likes and interests. They make the web more personalized for us but is it this personalisation that’s keeping us isolated and disconnected from the rest of the digital world?
This is the question that Eli Pariser discussed in his TED Talk Beware Online Filter Bubbles whereby his idea of the purpose of the web was to connect with the world. However, this becomes more difficult when we’re only exposed to information that interests us. He classifies this as the “Invisible algorithmic editing of the web” (1:55) which I find is a solid explanation of how filter bubbles work. He also argues how the disconnection from society occurs when one is only exposed to desired information that aligns with the interests of the individual. His argument presents an essence of truth within it. Without understanding the perspective of someone else, discussions on the Internet may rarely occur thus resulting in a closed mindset.
He mentions how two of his friends got extremely search results for “Egypt”. So I tried to see if filter bubbles would work for me and my friends if we searched for the same thing. I asked 3 friends to search “France” and to my surprise, all of our searches were almost identical. Perhaps this was due to the very general results of France that would come up for anyone such as a Wiki overview or things to do/places to see. Overall, this mini-experiment made me question the validity of Pariser’s arguments on filter bubbles since we all had essentially the same results.
Filter bubbles also raise the issue of privacy such as what data is collected from history and cookies and why is it being collected. This issue can raise larger problems such as spying on the user through their laptop and collecting data about shopping habits that later on appears in ads.
By extending his arguments, Pariser explains how filter bubbles are preventing us from connecting with other people. He creates a unique analogy of how different information is feeding our brains. By only being exposed to information that interests us, he refers this as “Information junk food” whereby users don’t challenge their brains to think in different perspectives about global situations. On the other hand, he states how “Information vegetables” is getting us to be confronted by information we’re not used to seeing thus this is able to make us think more critically instead of being a passive Internet user. Furthermore, by competing voices being discussed on the Internet, Pariser insinuates to how this will essentially break one’s filter bubble thus connecting individuals using the web instead of being isolated from everyone.
He proposes the solution to breaking the filter bubble by ensuring that the code upon which the Internet is written upon has a “sense of the public life and civic responsibility”. By allowing the algorithms of the web to be transparent enough to show information that’s important uncomfortable and confronting, this will be able to broaden the minds and perspectives of Internet users. A possible suggestion to avoid filter bubbles might is to ensure that you’re deeply looking into the results that show up and analysing them. To think about other perspectives about issues is crucial for breaking one’s filter bubble and becoming a more active and assertive Internet user. Hence, I agree that by expanding the amount of important information we’re exposed to, this will make us more informed and connected with the world around us.
