When I open up my phone, I often find notifications from random online news sources that I am not even subscribed to sending me stories about my general interests and hobbies. Sometimes these catch my interest and I will click on them, but more often than not, I will just wonder “how did that get on my phone? Who told them I have been playing a new video game?” 

Perhaps my phone and the subsequent Google searches I have done on it and my computer (which have linked emails and data) are selling the data to websites in an attempt to “personalize” my digital presence. I find myself agreeing with Eli Pariser in his TEDTalk about the “filter bubble”, or the algorithmic isolation from ideas or sources that do not tend to align with our views (Pariser, 2011). This filter bubble does not only extend to my choice of hobbies as I find that on my social media, I will only see articles that align with my personal beliefs, rather than any that may challenge them. 

In an attempt to disrupt this algorithmic echo chamber, I have been trying to manually curate my new feed this week. I personally work in a charter school, and while I understand that the topic of charter schools is a slippery one, I have decided to take a step out of the news cycle of charters and have followed the School District of Philadelphia’s facebook page so as to get the perspectives of those who work for public schools in my area, as opposed to just charters. 

In a digital age where algorithms record our every Google search, it may be a losing battle to try to adjust my algorithm manually, but I still think I should try anyway. 

References:

NightCafe Studios (2023). Fighting the Algorithm. by NightCafe Studios, 2023 (https://creator.nightcafe.studio/)

School District of Philadelphia. (2010, August 31). School District Of Philadelphia Official Facebook Page. Official School District of Philadelphia Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/PhillySchools/

TED. (2011). Beware online “filter bubbles” | Eli Pariser. YouTube. Retrieved July 23, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ofWFx525s&ab_channel=TED.