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Bubble Trouble

The World Wide Web took the world by a storm and has brought the world closer. The rosy dream of having information at our disposal with few clicks and keywords is distant no more.

But this has also trapped us in a well calculated bubble which is a result of our own thinking and preferences. We are aware of this phenomenon called the Filter Bubble. To explain it briefly, Filter Bubble is a phenomenon that occurs when various websites use well designed algorithms to tailor our searches using our keyword searches to return different results for a given instance of search. The results can be different for different users depending upon the search keywords. This is called personalization.

Filter bubbles aren’t bad or scary all the time. Looking on the positive side they provide us with information relevant to us faster. We don’t have to waste time to search our most visited websites as they are ranked higher up the list for us thanks to the bubble ( bookmarking is another convenient way to go).

But there are some cons associated with filter bubble which should be addressed. One of them is Information Literacy. If your search results are skewed and you are unaware of it, then it hampers your ability and cognitive sense to make the most sense of the presented information. You might not be willing to accept that there can be more information that might not be readily available or accessible to you (Half knowledge is dangerous).

The other con associated with the bubble is Page Ranking. Search engines use this to categorise and rank pages based on the number of hits or popularity of a given website or content. This doesnt make the information accurate but we tend to believe that because it ranks higher in the search than other websites it must be legit. This takes away our ability to dig deeper foe relevant information.

Now that you are aware of the bubble, its pros and cons, what can you do to burst out of it ? or how can you burst out of it ? It is very necessary not to be trapped in one and ensure your horizon is broadened. In order to burst the filter bubble following steps can be handy.

  1. To get rid of your search history.
  2. To turn off targeted ads using ad blocking softwares
  3. Ensuring that you delete your browser cookies
  4. Disabling tracking cookie features
  5. Keeping your facebook data private, altogether!
  6. Going incognito or anonymous