We’ve been living in filter bubbles. Most of the news and stories
we see on social media are shared by our friends, who are—not
surprisingly—very similar to us. We come away with the impression that
our views are the predominant and correct ones, and we aren’t exposed to
much of the news and stories that other people are seeing. Social media
makes it easy to live in these bubbles, and they’ve gotten stronger and
more polarized over the last year.
We could dig in our heels, dismiss our detractors as “elites” or
“deplorables,” and hope that things get better. But even if this plan
works, we won’t have learned anything. We still won’t know the true
causes of the rifts that exist, and we won’t know what motivates the
people with whom we disagree.
A better first step is to take a deep breath and try peeking
outside your bubble—and we’re building an app that helps you to do
precisely this. Just as your Fitbit reminds you to get up and walk
around after an hour of inactivity, this app will notice when you’ve
gotten a little too comfortable in your filter bubble—and it’ll remind
you to go see what other folks are reading.
You might want to escape your bubble out of curiosity, or out of
partisanship (keep your friends close, and your enemies closer).
Whatever your motivation, we’re here to help!