My Filter Bubble

I think I have a major problem with my filter bubble.  Here's why:
1. My major:
I'm a broadcasting major with an emphasis in sports.  I use Twitter very often, probably as many times as I can a day.  In order to do my sports show, call games and have the latest discussion with my peers I must be up-to-date on the latest in sports and Twitter, I have found, is the easiest to stay in tune with what's going on.  I follow local sports "experts" as well as national "experts."  Typically, my timeline is filled with tweets about sports.  They range from breaking news to articles to recent scores.  I will admit that I should follow more news sites, but we know those can be skewed as well.  All news organizations are owned by certain folks with their own view points.  As much as we expect sports or new stories to be objective, I would argue, that it may not be the case.  I also have unfollowed some people that I don't see the same view points.  I ref basketball and there seems to be some new controversy every day in the reffing world.  There was a local sports writer complaining about the refs and I was sick of looking at his complaints and I unfollowed him.  Facebook is similar. My friends are sports related as well.  I see many posts from local anchors or majors that I read.  I don't see many posts from friends that I made from 5-6 years ago.  Wether its from my inability to "like" a post or not that could be why I see that.  Once again, I don't often see a lot of news.  I typically don't always have time to sit down and watch the news at 5,6 or 10 o'clock and so I don't get my fill of news.  In terms of newspapers, I would argue that, we still do have real people as gatekeepers.  They weigh their stories on a criteria and they will run it based on those.  Some are proximity, human interest stories, and conflict just to name a few.  But the problem is, people don't read newspapers.  I do because I keep up-to-date with issues for certain classes.  But outside of that, I don't.  My family canceled their subscription to the Omaha World Herald a few years back because we simply didn't read it on Sunday's and it was a waste of money.  I would say that newspapers could be a thing of the past in the future.  That would lead to computer algorithms that lead to a polarized society.

I would agree and disagree with the following statement that the decline of dissoi logoi associated with internet media is leading to a polarized society.  I would agree because what we see is specifically tailored to our interests.  Those interests are based on may things.  Some are values and beliefs that have been instilled in us from how how parents or guardians raised of.  Growing up on a farm I would see the issue of GMO's differently form some one who grew up in the city.  Google searching the topic would give me how I believe it differently than someone with a certain view point.  The things that I would read would reinforce my argument towards the issue and vice versa to someone who views it differently.  I would disagree to the other half of the statement.  I think we all have a personal responsibility to remain objective on arguments.  We are all intelligent individuals in our own rights and that would allow us to take a step back and say is this really correct or no.  However, if we are passionate about something that may be a bit different.  But at the end of the day, I believe that we have a responsibility as citizens to remain objective.  As I said, I think it's good and bad.

I think I need to do a better job of following a more variety of folks on Twitter and liking different posts to boost what comes across my feeds.  I also think that if we do a better job and evaluating articles.  We need to keep in mind who wrote the article and if it was an opinion piece or not.  We just have to give an idea justice by looking at both sides.  Finally, I think we need to put ourselves in places by talking with other people about the issues that we don't agree we with.  Who knows, we might learn something from them.  We have to shoulder the responsibility of engaging in dissoi logoi. Technology is our biggest asset but our biggest enemy at times.  n increase in polarization?