Before today I had never really thought about my filtered life, but after class I realized that my social media life is filtered quite well to my interests. Between Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, I would say Facebook seems to have the strongest filter. Instagram seems to only filter my feed with ads they think will peak my interest, while Twitter filters ads and then shows a handful of tweets that they think I will like. Facebook on the other hand filters my entire feed and I cannot figure their pattern out. I have what seem to be random posts throughout my newsfeed on Facebook, but after I ride an article on Facebook, a very closely related article will be suggested shortly after. While these particular social media website filter what I see, I definitely do plenty of filtering on my own.

            As a social media user, I follow people who share the same interests and views as me. I can think of several different occasions where I saw a tweet or post that offended me and I immediately unfollowed that particular account. I have always thought of my social media as a place where I can enjoy trends and consume news, not a place where I see views and beliefs that differ from my own. This is probably one of many reasons Americans are becoming more and more polarized – most people wanted be surrounded by things that we agree with and make us feel better.

            If everyone would exercise dissoi logoi our nation would be far more united. As soon as people realize that we can we can get along and socialize without having the same or similar views beliefs our nation and the world will take huge steps forward. If we could just realize that considering and listening to one another’s views does not mean we have to feel the same way everyone would get along much better.