Are your views being changed without you even knowing it?
Let’s try two small exercises:
The first task, Open Google in two tabs and search “IOS better than Android” on one tab and “android better than ios” on the other. You would see there are hundreds of articles supporting each of the searches and it’s just a matter of what you search decides what results are shown to you. For the second task, I would like you to open this link below and ask yourself a question: Is your life private any more?
We all have our Gmail accounts logged in to our browsers (personal/work or both) and about 70% of the Internet search is accountable by Google. This gives Google the complete view of where we eat, what we buy, where we are travelling for the next weekend for a Sauna or even the photos we viewed in different apps thus, enabling Google to provide “personalized” suggestions to us for anything and everything on the internet. And as a search engine leader, Google’s personalized suggestions can lead to a bias for many search queries for two different individuals. The same mechanisms are adopted by other tech giants like Facebook, Instagram and even Twitter to target search and news to us create something experts call, a “Filter Bubble”. Do you remember answering few quizzes on Facebook like“Find which Game of Thrones character you are?” or do you remember if you ever read any terms and condition before clicking on “Allow” button after you install an app like Snapchat, TikTok etc? These websites use their own trackers or many third-party trackers to access your data and use the data to suggest personalized news articles, shopping recommendations and what not! It is not too far when we would be living our lives on the opinions and views that we are presented through these platforms and even our personal opinions would be diluted with the enormous bias that these websites provide with each new day. Has it ever happened to you that you were just swiping your way through your Instagram wall and you see an ad of a new shoe or a new smartwatch that can change your life? And have you opened the ad and was amazed by the beautiful premise it beholds and end up watching dozens of review from the famous YouTube Techtubers and finally get the product even if you never needed it at the first place. Recently I was looking for a tablet to buy and I ended up buying a new Phone along with a smart fitness watch which was not financially a very sound decision on my part, but I bought them anyway. Recently, criticism for the US Elections and involvement of Facebook in the digital marketing process has been a hot button for many debaters and journalists, but out of all the questions that are being asked, one of the most pertinent questions that need an answer is “Who is responsible for this and why aren’t they accountable for it?”
In this age of efficient algorithms and enormous data, it’s very difficult to know are we in one of the filter bubbles and if yes, is there a way to get out? The answer to the former is predominantly yes but the latter question is quite difficult to answer. The Internet has been an integral part of our lives now and we are dependent on it from the simplest of things to the most complex of tasks. It would be just stupid of me to ask you to get away from your smartphone or social media because I know, even I can’t live without it and nobody can. You would surely find people who would proudly say that they are not on Facebook or Snapchat but I am certain that they have a smartphone and they google every little problem they face, right from how to cook pasta to how to infiltrate the Pentagon! It doesn’t matter where you are or what you do, there are eyes on you everywhere and there’s no escaping it!
Originally published at medium.com on October 11, 2018.
