Filter Bubble

The concept of the filter bubble has now made me aware of everything I receive in the mail and what my Facebook newsfeed looks like.  A recent thing that I received in the mail was a Men's health magazine, which I have never received before.  I live alone and I have never lived with any males as my mother was a single parent.  I started to think of all the things that I could possibly be searching that they would send me a magazine strictly for men, and I identify as a woman on all forms I've ever filled out.  My only possible conclusion was that last semester I had to write about a sexually transmitted disease for men, which then made me see a lot of flaws with the filter bubble.  I am a psychology major and I have had to search so many things that do not pertain to me.  So, is this a flaw in the filter bubble or are they able to decipher between what is pertaining to me and what pertains to my degree.

My Facebook is filled with both sides of the spectrum, as in liberal and conservative.  Being from Nebraska, I have a lot people I know that are conservative.  I would consider myself liberal as opposed to conservative, but I will still read articles that are from the conservative side.  I always find it interesting to read the other perspective because otherwise I am not able to understand where they are coming from.  I also never react to any posts or like any posts so my filter bubble on Facebook might not be the best.  So I really see any type of news article since I read both sides.  I do not follow or unfollow people who have different ideals to me no matter how annoying their posts can be.  On my Facebook this one person I know posts a lot about how we should be vegan and I personally don't agree with that but I respect other people's opinions.  I may even click on the article because I find it interesting to see what reasons some people have for it.

I do however notice that the ads that come up on my Facebook are my recent searches.  If I have been looking at make up brands there will be ads for that brand or if I was on some clothing website it would be about that.  My Instagram will also have these ads for me of my recent searches that usually pertain to makeup and clothing.

I use YouTube daily and this where the filter bubble really comes in to play.  It knows the type of videos I like to watch so it shows me my recommended and a lot of the times that is what I rely on to watch new things.  When my YouTube logs out, it is very annoying to try to use it without my own personal filter bubble.  It has things for everyone as opposed to what it has been building on for me the entire time that I have had YouTube.  This filter is incredibly helpful and useful for me personally.