Unfollow the Internet

I was reading through my notes on the Filter Bubble, and I noticed a big boxed question that read, "How does this [my biased searches] affect ME in the digital world???"

This question, at the time, was something that really bothered me and made me curious so much so that I made a scene of it in my notebook. Although part of me wants to blame the ca-a-a-a-a-afene, I think this question genuinely disturbed me. 

My parents are avid Fox News watchers...and I mean avid. They always have something to say about the "fair and balanced" news in which they extract information that they, literally, live by. The mention of CNN in my mom's house warrants a scoff and a crack on one of the major news anchors. But when we were talking the other day in class about looking for unbiased info, it really got me thinking about the world we live in where everything is made easy for us, where information is literally in our pockets and by the quick swipe of a finger (but really...take a second to think about that...at the touch of our fingertips...). At any given moment, we can find out that earthworms have five hearts, that camels have three eyelids and that the Romans used to make toothpaste from urine. But the trick here is that although our digital world has made everything easy for us, it has also made the game that much harder--harder because what the majority of the general population doesn't realize is that what they are reading is already tailor made for them.

So, now, we must take it upon ourselves to look even harder for what is unbiased--ultimately destroying the concept that the internet is making our lives easier. But what really sucks is that people are unaware of this. People think that what they are choosing is what they want, but in actuality, its what marketers are choosing for them. 

Wow, that is some darn good rhetoric, if you ask me.

How do we get people to think what we want them to think? First make friends with them and solidify a common ground, then make them think that what you want them to think is their idea. That sounds awfully cynical, but guess what, the real world we live in, the one devoid of glittery ads and neon commercials about anti anxiety meds that may cause "suicidal thoughts and tenancies" is actually cynical. They don't give a flying flapjack that you may die from their product or that your quality of life is suffering. They care about their investors and their bank accounts. I want to punch every pharmaceutical company in the spleen. I digress.

As a responsible inter web surfer, I have taken it upon myself to put in the extra time to think about the things I search like “Barak Obama” as apposed to "good Barak Obama" and “bad Barak Obama.” I wish I could fully explain this to my mother, but no matter what I say to her, they will always be "The Democrats at CNN."

I like to think that my identity exists beyond the realm of the internet. I think that I can take back control of my identity in the world outside of the internet in reclaiming my free-thinking, unbiased ways, but as much as I like to think these things, and as much as I like to think that I am cognizant of how the internet is influencing my surfing behavior, I don't think that I will ever be fully aware of how my world is being shaped. Because after all, the internet follows us everywhere. Maybe its time to unfollow the Internet.