Burst Your Bubble! Outsmart the Algorithms and See What You're Missing
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
IS IT BAD TO BE IN A BUBBLE Too much of anything even something you like can be bad for you Do you like pizza Lots of people would agree it’s delicious But eat too much of it and you’ll get a stomachache And if you never eat other foods like fruits and vegetables you could get sick Imagine what your life would be like if all you ever ate was pizza You wouldn’t know about chocolate Or burgers Or burritos Or Or fufu Or poutine Or dosas Now think about how the following people might feel about eating pizza Vegans Babies People who cannot digest wheat or cheese People who can’t afford pizza Someone who uses a feeding tube to get their nutrition They may feel very differently about pizza than you do WHAT ARE YOU MISSING Diversity or variety in life adds richness and excitement It presents unique and interesting points of view for you to discover Learning about other A BUBBLE BY ANY OTHER NAME In this book we’re not talking about real bubbles the kind you blow with dish soap or bubble gum Bubble is a term we’re using to describe the way we can be cut off from certain information online and in real life When that happens it’s like you’re in a kind of bubble In the pages to come we’ll mostly refer to information bubbles but there are other words and phrases that mean the same thing FILTER BUBBLE This term was made popular by Eli Pariser in 2011 It means that information is filtered and some of it is kept from us INFORMATION SILO Silos are tall towers where grain is stored so being in a silo keeps you separated ECHO CHAMBER A real-life echo chamber bounces sound waves back to you Here it describes the way that the ideas you send out bounce back to you PERSONALIZATION When something is personalized it’s customized just for you 6
people’s experiences can enhance your life It also tends to make you more empathetic and understanding toward others Pizza is one thing but later in this book you’ll learn about some kinds of information bubbles that keep you from seeing or understanding people places or ideas that are unfamiliar to you Noticing when you’re in a bubble like that is important so you can break free of it IT’S PERSONAL Your bubble probably looks a lot like you It’s likely filled with things that reflect your age family background tastes hobbies neighborhood and way of life Can you think of some things you see over and over again online like sports videos posts and ads about video games you play or certain kinds of foods you enjoy This book will help you understand why you keep seeing the same types of things online and also in real life 7
