We’re mesmerized by our phones. It’s like having a little television set that we can pull out of our pockets, and check into the many dramas unfolding around us whenever we are otherwise unoccupied.
Every time we open an app, our content – the information that reaches our eyes – is being controlled by someone else, often with popularity and newness as a priority over diversity and quality (Hossein Darekhshan, Ideas podcast)
On TIDE podcast episode 72, Doug Belshaw and Dai Barnes discuss how the digital divide has become a digital literacy divide.
Over and over again we hear that most people on social media don’t understand that they are “liking” and “sharing” inside a “walled-garden”, and they are paying corporations for the use of that space by handing over their privacy, and their attention, to specific ads and information directed at people in their bubble.
Brodie Fenton gives and excellent example of this, where a friend suggests that the posts CBC News puts on Facebook are more interesting than the ones they post on their website. This friend is completely unaware that it is the Facebook algorithm controlling her feed, not CBC posting specific content on her site.
It follows, then, that before we can escape our bubbles, we need to
a) realize how we are being targeted inside mobile apps like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
b) have a desire to leave the comfort and beautifully designed experience of existing within apps
Once we have chosen to diversify our feed, how do we do it?
Here are some suggestions I have encountered this week. Please feel free to comment with more ideas.
- Fool the algorithm. Diversify your feed by randomly liking and sharing (Hossein Derakshan)
- Insist on open algorithms. Insist on the right to modify our own personal algorithms.
- Commit to reading and consuming more content through your browser (online newspapers, blogs, podcasts) to expose yourself to more diverse ideas.
- Purposely follow people on social media who are nothing like you.
- Read one or two entire articles daily and reflect on them, perhaps even sharing back in your own blog.
- Become digitally literate.
- Become domain literate.
- Ensure our children develop digital literacies.
Most importantly, model the importance of diversity and truth on the open web. Our democracy depends on it.
Featured image by Mazime Bhm on Unsplash
All of the posts in this series can be found here:
3/10 – How the “smart phone” and mobile apps have changed the way we interact online
4/10 – Historical perspective – the co-created open web to corporately owned platforms
5/10 – Algorithms: What’s controlling what you see and read?
6/10 – Information Literacy: What will your lesson plan look like now?
7/10 – Videos and Images – From Facts to Feelings
8/10 – Popularity over Importance: Celebrity culture in a time of wicked world problems
This post is part of a 10 day posting challenge issued by Tina Zita. You can’t be a connected educator if you don’t contribute. Sometimes we need a nudge to remember that if nobody shares, nobody learns. Thanks Tina!
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A caution about this post: I am a learner, not an expert.
I have set out here to use my #10posts10days (#10days10posts) challenge to explore this area that deeply interests me, in an open way that lets others see what I am learning. If you know more than I do, please correct me if necessary, and share! If you have more questions, please post those in the comments too. Let’s learn more together.
All of the posts in this series can be found here: You Live in a Bubble
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