hunterclarke

I was in an Apple Store the other day for something unrelated. While waiting, I asked one of the employees if I should try the AVP. Their response was "it's cool I guess. Probably not worth the effort." Pretty telling.

I actually think it's a bit of both. You select for things you like, and avoid things you don't. Then the algorithm says "I can help with that." The problem is that you can't tell it to stop even if you want it to.

Finding other sources of community and content that isn't centered around a feed is a good idea as well.

Author here. I agree that most people aren't actively looking to break out of the comfortable, algorithmically generated corner of the internet they read. I like a lot of the topics that are suggested to me. Youtube is spot on in a lot of its suggestions.

But I'm not sure that the "slice" of the internet I'm exposed to is the best one for me. Especially over a long enough time period. I'm in a different season of life than I was in high school or college. But there's quite a bit of "inertia" behind these algorithms that keep me coming back to the same content I read back then (5-10 years ago).

I don't think there's a good set of digital tools out there for saying "I want off the ride." Or at least "I'd like to ride a different ride for a minute."

I think if we want to enable self-educators, there has to be a better suite of tools available to those who want to be presented with diverse ideas.

Just my 2 cents.

+1 for getting out in the real world.