Without the media, we would all be focused on the things that are immediately around us. Focused on your goals. Your friends. Your family. Your town or village. Everyone you know would have a similar perspective of the world to yourself.

This is how our ancestors lived.

(We’re evolved to live in tribes of around 150 people. But today we live in a Global Village)

But we live in the information age. And because of the media (The internet in particular) people are beginning to have wildly different perspectives of the world around them.

More importantly, each of us live inside digital filter bubbles created by algorithms. Because Google and Facebook personalises what we see using algorithms (In an effort to maximise engagement with their platform), the information you see online is generally information you agree with.

The algorithms are shaping the information you see and therefore are shaping what you notice in the world.

Your main source of information is not letting certain pieces of information through. This separates society into digital groups. Right-wing and Left-wing. Feminism and The Red Pill. Millennial and Baby Boomers. Men and women. (Yes. The internet is separating the sexes into digital groups).

These digital filter bubbles are invisible. How would you know if your Google search results were different from someone else’s? How often do you consider the information you’re not seeing on your Facebook news feed?

The algorithms controlling the filter bubbles aren’t even available to the public.

Each of these filter bubbles has it’s own zeitgeist.

This is the reason for the sudden political polarisation across the world between 2012-2019. America. UK. Brazil. France. Germany. How could these countries on difference sides of the globe experience political polarisation across the world at exactly the same time?

Well what connects these countries together? The internet. Google and Facebook.

Most people believe the internet is giving them information in a neutral way when in fact this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The information in their digital filter bubbles shapes their world-view. Then they go out into the world and their RAS pays attention to things that confirm the world-view that was created largely by consuming content inside their digital filter bubble.

It goes like this:

An individual with right-wing political beliefs spends a year on the internet. Searching on various terms Google and following different Facebook groups that they’re interested in The algorithms on Google, Facebook and Youtube (Youtube is owned by Google) feed them content they’re the most likely to click. Which is content that confirms their right-ring political beliefs to be accurate. They consume countless hours of content discussing the negative aspects of mass immigration. They head out into the world and their RAS focuses on any occasion they see someone from another country conducting any sort of negative behaviour (Fighting, being rude, littering, spiting) because this confirms their current world view (Again, this world-view was largely created by the digital filter bubble they’re in) Their RAS will also tend to filter out any occasions when they come across an immigrant who is indulging in a positive behaviour as this does not confirm their world view.

Now they’re only paying attention to things that confirm the world view that was created by the algorithms of Google and Facebook. Therefore, algorithms are changing their perception of reality.

And as you’re reading this on the internet, the same is likely true for you.

The exact same effect is present on those with left-wing political beliefs. Or any other kind of beliefs. In fact, the same effect will occur on anyone who spends a large amount of time on the internet. The more time you spend on the internet, the more this effect will impact your psychology.

As you walk through the world, what do pay attention to? Which information from the world is in focus and which is left unnoticed by your RAS?

What are your invisible gorillas?

And how much of what you’re seeing in the world around you is being determined by algorithms on the internet?