Filter Bubbles

Growing up I did not really realize the bubble I was in. It was not until high school that I realized I was very isolated in my own bubble. I attended a private school, was from a middle/upper class family, and grew up in a safe neighborhood. One of my high schools graduation requirements was to do several hours of community service. This is that shocking event that made my see the outside world and all of the events in society that were outside of my bubble. I have lived in a bubble but am trying very hard to expand that bubble and be opened minded to the world around me.

Eli Pariser discusses a whole new notion of filter bubbles on the Internet. What he means is that the Internet does this "invisible alogorithmic editing of the web."Just when I thought I was expanding my mindset and my bubble, I come across the fact that the Internet, especially search engines and news headlines, personalize my search results based on what it thinks  I want to see. Pariser calls this my "unique universe of information" created by the Internet. I have no control over this and it is kind of scary and in a sense dangerous. It is putting me back into the bubble I want to expand. Right now I am not a fan of this "filter bubbles" concept because I can not see how the internet can pin point exactly my interests, my thinking,etc. It really can not. So what may be a better way of using the Internet?I think the Internet should be a way of networking instead of filtering and putting people in bubbles. By networking, we can collaborate, see others points of views, share ideas rather than become controlled and filtered.