The Internet Of Us: Knowing More And Understanding Less In The Age Of Big Data Analysis

Social media and networks allow for individuals to easily find other individuals who share similar beliefs, whether these beliefs are about politics, social issues, sports, or popular culture. In his book “The Internet of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data”, professor Michael Patrick Lynch examines the impact that the Digital Age and the Internet have had on our ability to acquire knowledge. When examining the argument that the Internet is allowing for “group polarization” to flourish, Lynch quotes Cass Sunstein, a legal scholar. Sunstein has argued that “’repeated exposure to an extreme position, with the suggestion that many people hold that position, will predictably move those exposed, and likely predisposed,
As a left-leaning Democrat, nearly every single politician that I follow is a Democrat: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Jim Himes, Chris Murphy, Kamala Harris, Richard Blumenthal. Furthermore, I follow left-leaning or center-leaning news sources which typically produce works with a liberal or centrist bias: The New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, MSNBC. I choose to follow the politicians and news sources which report information in a fashion which aligns with my views. I also began following left-leaning organizations, such as Planned Parenthood and the Women’s March. Liberal, Trump-hating celebrities like John Legend also earned my
I altered my online behavior in order to gain the approval and to be liked by my new classmates. I wanted my new peers to see all of the liberal tweets I was re-tweeting. As I scrolled through my Twitter feed several times per day and was spoon-fed stories and op-eds with leftist elements, I began to feel much more strongly in my own liberal beliefs. On Facebook, I then began sharing some of the liberal op-eds criticizing hot-headed Trump and his little minions that I first saw on Twitter. My feeding myself articles and videos which shared the same leftist viewpoint, I began to lean farther to the left than ever before. I conformed to my peers in an effort to secure their