The Filter Bubble

As the hour grew late last night, many people were truly shocked at the way the election was shaping up. It was against what all the pollsters had said. And more visibly, it was against what they saw in their respective news feeds.

And therein lies part of the problem. Algorithms determine what we see. Algorithms built off our likes and web searches. Algorithms built off our friends likes and web searches. And it ensures we only see things we “like.” It makes us believe everyone is like us.

That’s a problem. It makes it hard for us to understand people who disagree with us. It makes us believe that it’s “us” vs “them.” And that “we” must win at all costs. It makes us mean, and amplifies “-isms.”

As things settle, I truly believe we all need to step outside our filter bubble. We need to learn more about each other. Because this divisiveness isn’t working. And I fear it’s only going to get worse.