To Bubble or Not to Bubble

          Eli Parsier's Ted Talk, "Beware online "filter bubbles"',  focuses on the dangers of the filtered information that we are constantly receiving on the internet.  "As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there's a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a "filter bubble" and don't get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview."  The message that this delivers is that the internet is no longer a connection to the world, it has become personalized per use and is therefore limiting the users exposure to various ideas and opinions.  As personalization and invisible-algorithms are sweeping the web, we move towards an experience that shows us what the internet thinks we want to see and hiding from us what we actually need to see.  Sue Halpern's, "Mind control & the Internet", also expresses the importance of being exposed to new people, new ideas, and new opinions on the internet.  This exposure cannot happen if we are constantly filtered by "bubbles".  How are we going to develop or grow as a society if we are kept isolated from all ideas that oppose our own?  If we are going to be knowledgable and responsible citizens we must regularly be exposed to fresh and diverse ideas.

          On the other hand, Clive Thompson's "Clive Thompson on High-Bandwidth Buddies" attempts to argue the benefits of the filter bubble.  Thompson states that the weak ties/acquaintances we have with people inside our filer bubble are most likely to bring us new information and opportunities.  Keeping your close friends in your filter bubble is believed to be the best possible way to inform you about new ideas because these friends can structure the information in a way that will appeal specifically to you.  Branching off of this logic, Thompson shares the idea that having a more narrow list of relationships will bring you more valuable information than having a broader list of relationships.  Having too many relationships online will flood you with information that will get lost in the sea of search results.  Therefore, this side argues that the filter bubble provides you with the links that will deliver the important information to you that had initially been filtered out.