Filter Bubbles Feed Biased Facts for Bystanders

My typical exposure to media revolves around mindless scrolling looking for something I find funny. This usually takes the form of memes, videos, or the occasional parody song I may come across. Growing up, my dad would always sit around and watch the news. It doesn’t matter what else may have been on or what else we were doing, the news always had to be on. Because of this, I now take whatever steps I can to avoid the news at all costs.

Yes, I understand that may cause me to be ignorant when it comes to current events, but as long as I don’t have to sit through an hour of constant negativity and depression, then it’s worth it for me. I chose to dive back into the world of the news and follow whatever story I saw on the television or social media. The state of all digital media today is aimed at telling people what they want to hear. There can be an event that happens, but you can easily find it shown in a positive light, a negative light, through the eye of a conspiracy theorist, or whatever other angle you want.

With all of this variation, it makes it difficult to take anything you see at face value. I was torn between feeling sympathetic towards the people living through misfortunes, but even more so when I thought about how their story might be getting twisted to further the agenda of some greater entity. After trying to add this back into my life, I’m just as ready to cut it out again. Perhaps I will take some more time to find some authentic and neutral mediums that I can follow, but until then, I’ll continue taking what I see with a grain of salt.

References:

Tenor. (2017) News is depressing. [GIF]. Tenor. https://tenor.com/Sd8F.gif

Wilkinson, S. (2021, March 31) News bias further divides the left and right. [Photograph]. Santa Cruz Sentinel. https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2021/03/31/cartoonists-take-news-bias-further-divides-the-left-and-right/