Burst Your Bubble! Outsmart the Algorithms and See What You're Missing
For Wease who has been in my bubble since we were six years old J G For David Georgia and Jack Their support is endless J D
TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 8 12 16 22 26 32 36 42 44 46 47 47 INTRODUCTION WHAT’S IN MY BUBBLE CHAPTER 1 THE RHYTHM OF ALGORITHMS CHAPTER 2 WHO CREATES ALGORITHMS AND WHY CHAPTER 3 HOW DID YOU END UP IN A BUBBLE CHAPTER 4 WHAT ALGORITHMS DO FOR YOU WHY YOU NEED TO BURST OUT OF YOUR BUBBLE CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 WHAT ELSE PUTS PEOPLE IN BUBBLES CHAPTER 7 HOW TO BURST YOUR BUBBLE CONCLUSION IT’S UP TO US FROM THE AUTHOR’S BUBBLE GLOSSARY INDEX SOME RESOURCES USED IN THIS BOOK
INTRODUCTION What’s in My Bubble On the internet when you click on things you get more just like them Let’s say you really like cats You watch a lot of cute cat videos Cats climbing curtains Kittens snuggling babies You send cat memes to your friends You post pictures of your own cat online You’re thinking of becoming a vet But look at your friend He likes dogs He watches videos of dogs doing tricks He listens to podcasts about service dogs He’s been begging his parents for a puppy Now what if the two of you switched phones What are all these dogs doing here you wonder And your friend wants to know why your phone is crawling with cats You and your friend are each in a kind of bubble An information bubble Yours is filled with cats and your friend’s is full of dogs Your cats rarely break into your friend’s bubble And you hardly ever get dog videos in yours How did this happen And more important how do you burst your bubble so you can see all the animals not just the dogs and not just the cats Now let’s take it a step further What if it’s not only dogs or cats in your bubble but say only people who have the same skin color as you Or only people who think exactly like you do An information bubble can be filled with anything you like or share on social media Music TV shows The city or country you live in Your hobbies Whatever you click on watch share or like you will get more just like it That’s what this book is about It’s about noticing that our online world often prevents us from seeing things outside our comfort zone It’s about understanding why that might not always be a good thing Most important it’s about how we can work around the technology to see and embrace things that are outside our bubbles 5
