# Filter Bubble

By [hayyam](https://paragraph.com/@hayyam) · 2022-12-03

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Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Netflix… Have you ever thought about how successful they’re at showing you what you want and filtering out what you don’t support or are not interested in? Although it’s comfortable to see only things that appeal to you in your news feed, have you ever felt like you’re stuck in an invisible bubble? Inside a filter bubble? Feel it or not, each of us is isolated in our private bubbles. But how can you be isolated on the Internet? Isn’t the internet place of freedom? Let’s clear up these questions.

Assume that you’re an anti-vaccine person, when you like a few tweets about it on Twitter, the algorithm records this act and starts to show you more anti-vaccine content, as you interact with them; new ones come. In time, this algorithm can make you think the whole world is anti-vaccine. But in reality, you just can’t see other points of view.

When the internet came into our lives, it provided great freedom of communication. The Internet has allowed us to meet new people, ideas, information, movies and music that we would never encounter ordinarily. However, after websites introduced personalised content algorithms, they started to cut off our communication with different ideas and tastes.

The companies argued that their algorithms could get to know us better than ourselves, but we aren’t such simple creatures. We don’t live in the past; we live in the now, and we’re changing in time. On the other hand, the algorithm defines us only by our past actions. In this way, the algorithm locks us in the past by sticking to imitations of ourselves. It’s like a virus that freezes our ideas and prevents them from changing. It makes a bad imitation of our own falsehood, even sometimes bending and distorting reality in real life.

Of course, it would be irritating to constantly see opposing views on social media but although we accept that this filtering algorithm provides us with some comfort and benefits, its harms are more critical. Because, as we interact with the same things, the algorithm eliminates everything outside of it, and the outside of this filter bubble is almost non-existent for us; we don’t see them because the algorithm hides them from us. This makes us fanatical, radical, unempathetic and intolerant individuals. Moreover, it causes isolation and separation with a centrifugal tendency.

So why are they doing this? The biggest source of income for these companies is advertising, and the dream of advertisers is to pinpoint the target market (audience). If users’ interests change often, these companies can’t provide pinpoint targets to advertisers. Therefore, it’s beneficial for companies to get users stuck and fixed in certain filter bubbles; it increases the accuracy of target marketing.

So, how to break free from your filter bubble? Understand that information is being filtered. Intentionally seek out opposing viewpoints. Watch out for bias. Don’t unfriend those who disagree with you. Listen with the intent to learn. Question your own perspectives. But still, these aren’t enough. Therefore, maybe the solution is to reduce the usage of social media as much as possible.

Muharrem Acar aka. hayyam.eth

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*Originally published on [hayyam](https://paragraph.com/@hayyam/filter-bubble)*