The Filter Bubble Debate

As of late, most social networking sites have been using filter bubbles for their search bars. Filter bubbles alter search results to fit the user searching. They use past searches and page visits to determine what results would be favorable to the user. Many people have been arguing whether these filters are a good thing or a bad thing.
Eli Pariser believes that the filter bubbles are restraining us from our civic responsibilities of acquiring unbiased general knowledge. He thinks that although these filters may suit our preferences better, it is our right to be shown everything, whether we prefer it or not. We should be able to make our own decisions based on all that is shown to us, not just listen to what our computers are telling us we prefer to see. I should be able to see the same results as my friends, family, and even people on the other side of the world.
Clive Thompson disagrees with this notion and suggests that filters are a good thing. He stands that we know what we would like to see, and we shouldn't have to look at results that don't interest us. He believes that the issue isn't about what you see, but rather how much you see. I should see as much of what interests me as I want.

How Obama Really Did It

As we could have expected, a rise in social media changes the way pretty much everything is done nowadays, and a presidency campaign is no different. Everybody is on social media, and that is where Obama excelled in gaining support for his campaign. We all know the old saying "If you can't beat em, join em", and that is exactly what Obama decided to do. To compare Obama to his competitors, we can focus on the following example: There was a website called MyBO, with which 104,000 Texans signed up to help Obama's campaign, allowing him to raise 55 million dollars in one month. Hillary Clinton was only able to get 20,000 Texans to help her and she raised a significantly less amount of money. Obama's website not only gained more volunteers, but it was able to match specific tasks to specific people who requested an interest in that task. These volunteers were told exactly what to do and how to do it, making Obama's campaign a huge success, thanks to social networking.

Growing Up Online

Kids these days are growing up in a new kind of world. With all of the new technology improving so rapidly, kids spend a lot of their time on social media sites, causing a loss of focus among the new generations. According to the show "Frontline" on  PBS, a big change in the way these children are taught, is due to the rise of social networks. Because kids are always entertained nowadays, teaching them in a generic classroom setting just doesn't keep their attention anymore. Teachers must change the way they teach to involve more media based lectures, which causes more schools to have to spend a lot of money on smart boards and other media-based teaching tools.
However, with the rise of social media comes a decline in real social interaction. Kids can spend so much time online these days that there just wouldn't really be a point of interacting with the world in person. Also, behind the face of a computer, it is a lot easier to be harsh to others, because we can't physically see the pain it causes them. If you wouldn't have to confront a certain person in real life, why would you really care what happens to this person? That is the poisonous mindset that a lot of these kids are growing up with, making it really easy to be a bully and hurt others. These kids aren't able to realize the power of words, and therefore let their mouths, or rather their keyboards, run wild.
Social media is a door to another world, with which some kids choose to become a different person. Many people have faced trouble growing up and they just had to push through and deal with it. Nowadays, kids don't have to deal with it when they can express these trouble online or become a person that doesn't posses the same problems. One girl was very awkward and shy in school, so she decided to become a provocative model online, gaining many followers. She didn't have to deal with being the awkward girl because she now had a whole other world where she was famous. More and more kids are doing stuff like this now, and we all know that avoiding your problems instead of dealing with them can be an extremely unhealthy habit and can lead to bigger problems in the future. There is no way to eliminate social media from the next generation, so we have to find ways to educate them about the dangers of it.