Are Your Opinions Your Own?

One would think the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, and social media, in general, would allow people to see important issues from many different perspectives. With so many different opinions from people of different backgrounds, cultures, language & countries, one would think the average social media user would easily and readily get both sides of a picture and be able to formulate a well rounded objective opinion based off of diverse data representing multiple sides of an argument. However, the reality seems to be just the opposite. Facebook & Twitter for example employ algorithms designed to keep you engaged on their sites. They want you to be logged in and using their platforms as long as possible. The social sciences, subtle propaganda & mind control techniques targeting the typical user have never been harder to detect. Basically, the algorithms look at what sites you visit and based off what it perceives you like or dislike, it adjusts what information you see. Users end up being given biased and extremely opinionated news and information that coincides with what they already believe in creating an information feedback loop of sorts resulting in a more polarized society. A recent study on Google algorithms used in the lead-up to the 2016 election concluded that 2.5 million to 10 million voters were swayed by subliminal messaging and biased search algorithms. It is incredibly dangerous to have a private company with the power to influence that many votes in an election. however, they aren't just trying to influence your vote, the mass mind control and subliminal manipulation doesn't stop there. Facebook and Twitter's algorithms combined with the non-stop, daily messaging by our mass media are polarizing our society and destroying the critical thinking skills of entire generations of our society.   Who you listen to, who you read, who you hang out with and talk to have a huge impact on who you are, how you will vote, what you are likely to believe and ultimately, what kind of person you will become. Today on InsideAnalysis Eric Kavanagh & Sarah Evans discuss the importance of inclusiveness in today's digital world.