I grew up in a very sheltered small town in the Hamptons where nothing really bad ever happened. I always called it my "Sag Harbor Bubble." Children still walk to school and around town with out supervision and everyone feels safe in the bubble. When I left for college, I realized how sheltered my town really was. There were no homeless people on the street, gang violence, or really any armed robberies. There wasn't anything in the newspaper about excessive drug use or thieves breaking into peoples cars. Everyone in my town knows everything about one another, which can get quite annoying, but we all look out for each other.
After listening to the TedTalk from Eli Pariser, I realized that not only places like Sag Harbor are in there own bubble. The Internet is doing the same exact thing. This "Filter bubble" monitors what we view on the Internet and only shows things that are relevant to our interest. I noticed that ever time I search for something on Google, I would see an add for it on Facebook within the hour. With Pinterest, I noticed that once I open one pin about a science experiments, I will see dozens pop up on my timeline just like it.
Now Facebook isn't taking responsibility for the filter bubble or echo chambers. In the article written by Mariella Moon, Facebook is claiming that "It's not our fault! You do it too!" But how are we filtering our results? I have never once been asked if I wanted to filter my results or news feed by relevance, interests, importance, etc.
If the algorithmic gatekeepers are going to filter our results, at least have the viewer decide how it is filtered. Sometimes we need to read news that makes us feel uncomfortable, but it is still relevant to our society and is important. By reading other people's opinions about a situation, people are able to form their own view points. But when something is filtered, then all we get is the same view point over and over with nothing else to compare it to.
