Filter Bubbles: Why they are dangerous, and how to escape them

January 18, 2022 — ATABERK OZCAN

In Partnership with Are We Europe

 

It is impossible for me to downplay the place of social media in my life. But despite having used it for all those years, it took me a while to realise what it was doing to me. 

I first noticed the effect of filter bubbles when I moved to Brussels to study. One day, a friend asked me a rather difficult question: “What is the reason for the polarisation in Turkey?” He was referring to the growing divide between secular and conservative groups in Turkish society. 

There are many explanations for the political and social polarisation in Turkey, I told my friend, including a long-standing populist regime and widespread socioeconomic inequality. But the reason why my generation—which has a relatively short collective memory—fuels that polarisation, is tied to our heavy use of social media. It was only a couple of years down the line, when I first came across the term “filter bubble,” that this became impossible to ignore. I suddenly realised that the applications I use every day intentionally trap me in a “bubble,” in order to bombard me with tailor-made advertisements and make revenue. 

 
“Filter bubbles can create new echo chambers, or reinforce existing ones.”

In the news media ecosystem, this is known as an “echo chamber”—a metaphor for a situation in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition within a closed system. Filter bubbles can create new echo chambers, or reinforce existing ones. When it comes to deciding what clothes we wear or which lifestyles to follow, this is controversial enough. But when it comes to politics—especially in such a divided society as the one back home in Turkey—echo chambers lead to polarisation and “othering,” standing in the way of democratic dialogue. This is all the more problematic when you consider that many people in Turkey, as elsewhere, get most of their news from social media.  

To demonstrate the filter bubble effect, the media activist and sociologist Eli Pariser asked several friends to type the word "Egypt" into Google and send him the results. Comparing the search results side by side during a TEDx Talk in May 2011, Pariser discovered that while there was some overlap on topics like news and travel, one set of results was heavily focused on information about the then-ongoing Egyptian revolution, while the other was fairly a-political.

 
“We want to promote the habit of reading arguments from different news sources before forming your own opinion.”

By creating the impression that our narrow set of interests is all that exists, internet filters close us off to new ideas and important information. Many people are oblivious to this. The Guardian reports that "more than 60% of Facebook users are entirely unaware of any curation on Facebook at all, believing instead that every single story from their friends and followed pages appeared in their news feed.”

This is why, in 2020, I created Pusula together with three other co-founders in Turkey. Pusula is a website that helps readers escape filter bubbles by exposing them to different and opposing views. We bring together different social groups on a single platform, inviting them to engage in a constructive debate on specific topics. Our editors feed the discussion by sharing only fact-checked arguments three times per week. We want to promote the habit of reading arguments from different news sources before forming your own opinion.

Are you wondering how you can diversify your social media timeline and expose yourself to different worldviews?

Here are some simple steps:

1. Curate your own news sources

The first thing you can do is to consciously select the sources you want to get your news from. Rather than surrounding yourself with monotone voices and the same types of argument, you can choose to follow counter-opinion leaders, column writers and news outlets.

2. Follow social media accounts that curate different opinions for you

There are already media outlets in several countries that focus on bringing different perspectives together for their readers. Here are a few:

Pusula is a unique platform where readers of different newspapers come together in one single news outlet. They read each other’s opinions to get a more complex understanding of current affairs.

Le Drenche is a French newspaper that frames current affairs topics in a simple, factual way, and then invites two authors with opposing views to make their case. Authors are carefully selected based on their credentials.

Eurotopics’ database provides information on more than 500 print and online media published in over 30 countries in Europe. It translates the headlines from three countries on five subjects for each newsletter edition. Sent out every morning, it gives a comprehensive overview of the political landscape across Europe. 

3. Avoid automated who-to-follow suggestions

Algorithms on social media platforms recommend you follow users who live and work in similar environments as you, and are likely to share the same views. While this makes life easier—especially for those who use social media as a source of news—this directly drags you into the filter bubble.

4. Subscribe to tools and newsletters that broaden your worldview

At a time when people are becoming more entrenched in their thought patterns, and conspiracy theories are flooding social networks, it is more important than ever to keep an overview—and to be able to critically examine and classify various perspectives. 

Buzzard is a community of people who care about democratic discourse. From their archive of 1,800 sources, which they update daily, Buzzard curates the major debates from German and English-language media.

Upworthy is a website dedicated to positive storytelling. Upworthy's mission is "to change what the world pays attention to.” Their writers and video staff produce daily stories for social media. Topics include Being a Better Human, Citizenship & Democracy, Culture, Identities, and Science & Technology.

This article was originally published in Are We Europe’s print magazine. You can purchase a copy here.

 
 
 

The content of this website represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

 
 
Stichting Dare to be Grey