The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You

First published almost 15 years ago, the book sounded an alarm that extreme personalization of the internet and served news will create a reinforced opinion bubble, preventing the exposure to random experiences that required for creativity and growth.

Since then, the personalization algorithms had grown even more sophisticated, and yet I cannot agree with the presented argument because it attributes the bubble to modern times and technology and places little weight on personal curiosity and responsibility.

The filter bubble always existed. Pre-internet, the information and opinions came from a precious few news sources - and the value of media in shaping public opinions had been well known for centuries.

During Russian Revolution of 1917, capturing the newspapers were seen as a critical goal in ensuring success. Marketing campaigns changed long habits of preferred breakfast foods and personal grooming standards to sell new products. Arrival of personalization algorithms made the targeting simpler, but didn’t change the principle.

What did change is access to information.

The book argues that the filtering is hidden - I think it’s hard for anybody to ignore the presence of people who have completely opposite opinions from yourself.

And being exposed to different opinions rarely changes the stance as we view the world through the lenses of our personal experience. The breaking out of reinforced bubble only happens when we seek out new facts and information ourselves and feel internal alignment with such discoveries.

Outside of premise, the book was difficult to read as it felt disjointed. The mentioned sources were helpful in adding into reading list.