# Filtering Your Email

## The Filter Bubble
Coined by Eli Peterson, the "filter bubble" refers to the phenomenon where people only encounter information that reinforces their preconceived notions and perspective on the world around them. Through a combination of search engine algorithms and interaction with their respective social circles, people find themselves trapped in a cycle where they only run into media and information that aligns with their views, confining them in an internet echo chamber. In "The Echo Chamber Revisited"(2011), Peterson himself states that online search companies have a driving motivation to create a more personalized internet experience and in the attempt to appease this desire, they “make it easier and easier just to sit back and have the information passively come to you." Rather than having a search experience that yields the same results regardless of the individual, they instead appeal to the user's interests by bringing the information the algorithm thinks they would like over anything else.

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/zMukICnMEZmSf8zvXd" width="680" height="480" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/Giflytics-gif-jazminantoinette-giflytics-zMukICnMEZmSf8zvXd">via GIPHY</a></p>

Honestly, when I look back at my internet experience, as much as I would like to deny it, I’ve been just as much a victim of this filter bubble as anyone else. The number of times I’ve been outraged by a certain political event, and revel in the fact that everyone in my online space seems to be just as if not more outraged, only to find out that in reality, most people couldn’t care less, is far too high. I was seeing so many people in my searches and my feed laser-focused on this one topic, that I thought it was beyond reasonable that everyone and their mother were having the same thoughts. Recently I’ve gotten better at having the reminder floating in my head, that what I’m seeing is in part a product of an algorithm being almost criminally accurate about what I would like to hear. However, every once in a while I find myself falling into the fantasy that everyone is just as passionate about a certain event as I am. It takes a considerable amount of effort and self-awareness to recognize when you’re peering into a reflection of your own ideas, and that’s a skill I’m trying to develop.