Filter Bubble-Micah Robin
When the question “Why does our search engine show us what it shows us?” I was asked I was stuck trying to find an answer to this question. Was the answer not “because I asked it too”? What I have now realized is how intricate and complex the search engines we use are. For example, If you were to use the search engine of your choice and search “Where can I get the best ice cream in my area?” The odds are that the result you get will differ from the result someone else gets. The reason our results are so different comes from Filter Bubbles.
Online Filter bubbles are created to individualize and personalize information based on a person’s previous actions online. For instance, If I were looking for the best ice cream places near me, the filter bubble would use my previous data to figure out what ice cream shop I would be more likely to want to visit. Let’s say Cold Stone was the last ice cream shop I went to, The filter bubble would likely show me some Cold Stone location near me or other ice cream shop chains. If someone were to have a dairy intolerance their result would prioritize ice cream shops with dairy-free options. While online filter bubbles can be convenient to use when looking where to find ice cream, there are some cases where because the information is targeted to what you want to hear, you may be restricted from having easy access to information you may not regularly seek out or agree with. If you want information on politics or information happening around the world, the filter bubble can play are detrimental role in how you receive the information. Filter bubble creates an algorithm that will prioritize information that has interacted with in the past which can lead to blocking and restricting necessary information but not prioritizing because of it.
Now more than ever, the filter bubble is more active and most commonly seen in online social media. Rather than being called the “Filter Bubble” social media outlets place the content under a “For you” category. We see this in popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and many more platforms implicating Filter bubbles by using what the user interacts with to create space of information that you would be more inclined to interact with. Social media is also targeted to reach a younger audience, because of this the filter bubble has a more influential role. It can isolate information that may not necessarily be popular with the younger audience. This is very evident in politics in social media, especially with this year’s upcoming election. Those who support the democratic party with see more content and information about the democratic party while either shaming the Republican Party or just hiding information about the Republican Party from those viewers. The same goes for those who support the Republican Party. What this does is build a divide and makes it difficult to learn about opposing viewpoints we might have with one another and makes it easy to criticize others and say what is right or wrong based on what we have seen to be true or agrees with our viewpoint.
In conclusion. The Filter Bubble is an algorithm that is set to show information that we would personally be more inclined to agree with or interact with while restricting or leaving information we don’t agree with. In the case of finding activities to do or looking for an ice cream in your area, this is a convenient and helpful way to find what you are looking for. On the other hand, when it comes to gaining information on more serious matters such as political information or searching for factual information, the Filter Bubble is dangerous as it gives the user what they want to see rather than the whole picture.