I think we all have a story to tell where we did online market research for any product or service and then we started getting bombarded with related ads. Algorithms of social media platforms have just taken advantage of the abundant time that we spend daily on them and they have reached the point of understanding our needs in some cases much better than ourselves. Something I realized recently, and I have to admit shocked me, is the influence that algorithms may even have on our political beliefs.
All of us more or less and based on our experiences, we have formed some opinions and interests. Algorithms’ sole pursuit is our attention. They are not interested in changing our personality either to impose some hidden agenda on us. They just want to make sure that they get our attention as much as possible and to achieve that they will aim to show on our timeline, content that aligns with our existing beliefs and preferences. This leads to the reinforcement of our viewpoints and limited exposure to diverse perspectives. It is truly paradoxical that in the age of social media, where anyone with access to the internet has access to every possible piece of information or news, we end up being polarized in echo chambers and filter bubbles.
In such an environment we are constantly bombarded by news that find us agreeable and our exposure to different opinions is limited to a very large extent. How can someone develop critical thinking when their information is one-dimensional? According to this literature review, in the UK, around 10% of social media users almost never see political content on social media that they disagree with. While another interesting fact is that around 25% of internet users say they access no online news at all each week.
In no way am I writing all this because I am against the use of social media and the tendency of algorithms to personalize content. I’m able to understand that since I’m not paying to use any of the social media platforms I’m on, somehow the product is me, so I’m inevitably going to have to see dozens of ads, in which case I’d rather see ads that might interest me. Something I have understood from my personal interaction with the advanced technological tools is that the quality of the output I receive from them depends on the quality of the input I provide. In simpler words, my timeline and what the algorithm suggests me to consume reflects my preferences and opinions. And let’s not laugh, algorithms are rarely wrong.
Most scientists who have researched this issue insist that there should be regulations that would force tech companies to be more transparent about the methods they use to train their algorithms. On an individual level, I believe that this phenomenon mainly depends on the ability of each of us to develop critical thinking and to adopt an open-minded behavior when navigating the internet. I do not believe that being open-minded is directly associated with our political background or beliefs.
We have to be seeking for different perspectives and contrasting viewpoints. How can you have a clear opinion about an issue if you don’t hear all the available versions around it? The available online content is infinite, on the other hand the total content we consume is infinitesimally small. Even for a specific piece of news that really concerns us, the chances are that we will mostly receive information that we will happily consume.