https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/7/21055348/facebook-trump-election-2020-leaked-memo-bosworth
Lot’s of food for thought on this, and I’m not sure I agree with all of it, but there’s one standout paragraph towards the end:
The focus on filter bubbles causes people to miss the real disaster which is polarization. What happens when you see [26%] more content from people you don’t agree with? Does it help you empathize with them as everyone has been suggesting? Nope. It makes you dislike them even more. This is also easy to prove with a thought experiment: whatever your political leaning, think of a publication from the other side that you despise. When you read an article from that outlet, perhaps shared by an uncle or nephew, does it make you rethink your values? Or does it make you retreat further into the conviction of your own correctness? If you answered the former, congratulations you are a better person than I am. Every time I read something from Breitbart I get 10% more liberal.
Bam. This idea of filter bubbles distorting our thinking is flawed – the problem is we harden our viewpoint when we are presented with content we don’t want to see.