Fascinating and Frightening

As irony would have it, I heard a TED talk yesterday on this very topic.  Today, I decided to go through the draft section of the blog to see if there was anything worth publishing and I came across this piece I wrote last spring.  Seems I am on to something here, but then we probably already knew that!

From the archives...sometime early last spring:

Have you ever wondered how your recent Internet searches, Facebook feed, YouTube rabbit holes and Twitter feed are shaping your consciousness?  As a social media user I considered this while sitting in church on Sunday.  I guess I wasn't really paying attention to the homily, my mind wandered and ended up on this topic.  Maybe it was the result of reading another request to comment on someone's post about the latest Facebook algorithm.  Maybe it was because I spent much of Saturday searching travel websites for an upcoming trip.  As a result, those sites now send me daily or even hourly notices.  (yes, I know I can control those notices by changing my settings, which I did after the trip was fully planned).  See... the Internet is working its devious way into my consciousness and I think it is a fascinating and frightening topic to consider.

During "that" election I found myself growing very weary of the political chatter, similar to how I am feeling now.  I like to keep my most conservative and most liberal friends(I'll let you figure out who is who) as friends on Facebook even though sometimes their posts drive me to distraction.  I like to think hearing both sides (extremes) keeps me from becoming myopic.  I consider myself a liberal conservative or is it a conservative liberal?  I can never figure out.  Sitting in church I wondered though, if crafting your news feed to fit your opinions and beliefs can eventually lead you to become more extreme. 

Obviously I am not the first person to think of this.
We should all think of this!

If you are a person who loves those recipes that pop up on Facebook and shares them or clicks on the website, you get more of the same type of posts.  Does this in turn get into your subconscious and make you want to cook or craft more?  Mostly they just make me worry about how high my weight and cholesterol would be if I made the dishes.

When I tune into Netflix there is a list of "because you watched ____ you might like ____".  When I go onto my Kindle there is a list of books I might like because I read another book.  The algorithm is doing all of the thinking for me.  I used to just go into a book store or Blockbuster...remember them?! and peruse the aisles and find the books or movies all by myself.  Think of all the great reads or movies I am missing because I am being steered in a direction.  Wandering can lead to some pretty interesting places.

As I planned our vacation using various travel websites I noticed those site's ads were showing up on the sidebar more frequently...even with my ad blocker.  Now I want to plan a trip to Malaysia and Germany and San Francisco....you name it...they all look great!

Does the Internet make us a more extreme version of who we really are?  Does it shape wants, needs and opinions?  Are we all being watched by big brother aka some algorithm?  Are we losing the ability to think for ourselves?  These are the things I think about when I am not paying attention to the homily.  I think next week I'll just pay attention to the priest and see where it leads me.