Nowadays, people's lives cannot be separated from social media, and it seems like the whole world can be shrunk down to a tiny phone screen. In the era of Big data, the "person" who knows you the best is hidden in your Apps: your favorite foods, clothing styles, electronic products, books, etc. Your phone knows everything. Have you ever thought about what you have done to let it know your preferences? (It's definitely not mind-reading) Does social media reshape your thoughts? Are you being manipulated by "Big data"? How can we avoid falling into its trap?

Eli Pariser mentions in the TED talk that "Filter bubbles moves us very quickly towards a world in which the internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see, but not necessarily what we need to see." (TED, 2011) "Filter bubbles", also known us affinity space, which is something the internet hides from us.  We are bombarded with various information every day. This week, I conducted a small experiment: allowing myself only 30 minutes of browsing "Xiaohongshu" (a Chinese social media similar to Instagram) per day, instead, reading Wechat official account (such as Blue Oak Tree) articles related to education, also reading through the comments. After a week, the feeling was amazing! The biggest difference was that before, I would spend 1-2 hours browsing Xiaohongshu before going to sleep, but after putting my phone down, I couldn't recall what knowledge I had absorbed or what inspiration I had gained. Instead, I felt empty inside. However, reading articles allowed me to think about many issues, such as how to make a 6-year-old child like math, which professions can be replaced by AI, what kind of movies kids like, etc. I fell asleep while thinking these questions, unlike Xiaohongshu, which kept me awake.

One of the ways to avoid being manipulated by social media is to establish a diverse set of values by reading and viewing sources with different perspectives (Wechat articles), not fully occupied by what the Internet has chosen for you (Xiaohongshu).