Data mining and personalized algorithms create an online experience that is increasingly tailored to our interests🧠
The data that we accumulate online is picked up by various data miners and is used to build a profile on us. This profile is fed into algorithms which manipulate what we see online. The result is that the internet you see is increasingly tailored to your interests. This leads to the phenomena that political activist Eli Pariser has called the “filter bubble”: an internet optimized to your preferences where you never have to encounter an opinion you don’t agree with and your subjective biases are continuously reinforced and amplified. After some time you will have forgotten entirely all the “alien” and uncomfortable signals that once got through to you and gave you cognitive dissonance. This makes it harder to actively try to confront information that is opposed to your beliefs and expectations, putting us at risk of Idolatry. This process is also similar, and perhaps strengthens, the way In which our left hemisphere unconsciously focuses on only a select few of the sensory signals it receives that it considers important.
References
- Schneier, Bruce. (2015). Data and Goliath The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World Chapter 8. Commercial Fairness and Equality (Location 1854). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Psychology / Sociology / Politics / Privacy Status:☀️