Facebook's algorithm is making us more narrow-minded

By helping us to avoid conversations we don't want to have, Facebook's algorithm is doing nothing to progress society, writes Jessica Evans

Social media uses an algorithm to determine what posts and ads you are most likely to enjoy on the various platforms.

For example, if you are a pregnant woman and you happen to "like" a Facebook page where expecting mothers can help each other, you will find more posts and ads about pregnancy and motherhood pop up on your timeline. This seems like the work of marketing genius, and in some ways it is, but it does nothing to progress society.

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When it comes to conversations about feminism, racism, equal rights, and so on this algorithm is a troll that I wish would disappear. It means that conservative folk see only posts that speak to their beliefs, like posts with an anti-choice rhetoric, propaganda about gun laws and anti-vax posts. On the other side of the spectrum you find liberals' newsfeeds cluttered with feminist posts, articles about equality and animal rights. To see this in action, visit a website called Blue Feed, Red Feed.

Why is this bad? I mean, it prevents ugly fights on social media about these issues, right? Exactly. That is the issue. You find conservatives living in a bubble, not seeing any moral issue with some of the stuff they so strongly advocate. At the same time, you find liberals living happily in their bubble enjoying the notion that the world is becoming more progressive when it is not.

Thus far you have read some very American examples but this issue still applies to South Africans. Our population is so polarised about a vast number of issues. Take the Fees Must Fall movement as an example - you find leftist protest leaders advocating radical change and you find the far right believing the protesters are lazy thugs with nothing better to do.

If these two extremes could come together on a public platform and tackle the conversations nobody wants to have, in a civil way without attacking each other but simply giving their input and explaining their thoughts as best they can, both would slowly be exposed to the other's thoughts and, hopefully, become more open-minded.

The main reason for our backward development as the human race is our refusal to use what we were given by God or evolution or whatever you believe - our ability to converse. This algorithm is a significant part of the issue.