Throughout the years, the internet as we know has been and still is rapidly changing in ways unforeseeable by various users. The reason that it is not being realized by many is because of the consistent rate of innovation that these programs have. This means that internet users are so used to seeing different types of changes on websites and webpages that they do not really mind looking for the consequences that might be at hand. Writer and political activist Eli Pariser brought this to his audiences’ attention in his book The Filter Bubble. Pariser states that what makes up the Filter Bubble is the internet’s personalization, which basically makes its own perception of various users by using cookies and algorithms. In the chapters of this book, he weeds out all of the undesirable effects of the Filter Bubble, but in the last chapter he suggests different solutions to this problem of personalization on the web. One of these solutions has dominance over the others, while another seems to be impossible to achieve.
As humans, we tend to be more redundant with day-to-day activities without even knowing it. We wake up every day using the same procedures that sometimes are arranged in different orders, but still the same objectives and routine. This same tendency shadows how we use the online atmosphere. For example, one person might go online to check their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, then check out the NY time’s website for top stories and that will be their main online sequence of events for a large amount of time. This is a problem that Eli Pariser calls “Mousetrap” and addresses it by the solution of “Stop being a mouse.” (223) He says, “Most of us are pretty mouselike in our information habits” meaning that we tend to circle around the same information, mousetrap, because of our natural habit of redundancy. (223) This happens because it is convenient for us to stay in that circle called the Filter Bubble and we do not like being forced out of this scheduled routine of grabbing information. Like in the example I stated above, that person would be unwilling to use another news website because he/she is overwhelmed by the original source of information with-in the Filter Bubble. If we stop being a mouse we would be able to broaden our horizon by using different domains and databases to retrieve information. The more sources we use would benefit us extremely because of the different perceptions that we are retracting information from.
We have seen what I thought to be a strong solution to the Filter Bubble, but now here is what I think is the weakest solution that Eli Pariser mentions. I do not think that using algorithmic solutions would stop this fire of personalization on the web. He used the example that, “Why not rely on everyone’s idea of what’s important.” (235) What he means by this is in regards to the Facebook “Like” button why don’t they add another component to that with the “Important” button. This would clarify the difference between what individuals would like and what they think is important. My reaction to this is that instead of dosing the fire (personalization) with water, this idea would actually be the reciprocal of that. It would be like adding more gasoline or igniting fluid to it because it is adding on more personalization by showing what we really think is important. This would still push us deep into the Filter Bubble probably deeper than before. Although some algorithms that Pariser talks about may open up people’s eyes to differentiation, they might also strengthen the beliefs that people already have in the Filter Bubble.
In conclusion, there are some solutions to how we can solve this problem of the Filter Bubble that Eli Pariser has brought to our attention. However, it all depends on the person’s awareness of their personalized internet interface on how they want to address the issue of being eased by the Filter Bubble and the information with-in it. Because it is so convenient in today’s day and age of personalization and post-materialistic views, people do not mind getting the exact information that want as quick and also as specific to their preference as possible.