Chapter 8 of The Filter Bubble delineated a host of possible actions individuals, the government and companies can take to combat the filter bubble and the downsides of personalization. One of the first ideas he put forth were for individuals to stop being a mouse. Meaning, to drop the routine of checking three or four websites a day and start “stretching your interests in new directions,” which gives the “personalizing code more breadth to work with.” (Pariser 223) I thought that this recommendation was the least likely to stop the filter bubble because it is impractical. Eli Pariser urges people to basically try new things that they otherwise would not be interested in. That way the filtering code won’t over-personalize you and ascribe specific information to you.

I don’t agree with Pariser because he is asking people to change their interests. He says, “Someone who shows interest in opera and comic books and South African politics and Tom Cruise is harder to pigeonhole than someone who just shows interest in one of those things.” (Pariser 223,224) And while this may true, the obvious truth is that people may not have so many diverse interests and therefore they would not search for such diverse interests. Pariser’s suggestion of stop being a mouse is impractical and would prove least effective in combating the filter bubble.

Another idea Eli Pariser puts forth is for companies and new filterers to “start making their filtering systems more transparent to the public, so that it’s possible to have a discussion about how they’re exercising their responsibilities in the first place.” (Pariser, 229) I think this is a good proposition but it is not quite the best. “There’s plenty that the companies that power the filter bubble can do to mitigate the negative consequences of personalization, but ultimately, some of these problems are too important to leave in the hands of private actors with profit-seeking motives. That’s where governments come in.” (Pariser 237)

The best idea Pariser presents to combat the filter bubble is for the government to require “companies to give us real control over our personal information.” (Pariser 238) I think this is the best solution because only we truly know our interest, inspirations, dreams, and beliefs whether we decide to share it with the world or not. We know what’s best for us; therefore we should be the sole determinants of our personalization. No algorithm will ever understand who we really are.