When your filter bubble works too well

Over the past decade or so, most people have been building a filter bubble around themselves — only seeing the content that they want to see, and hiding everything else. Sites like Facebook do it quietly and automatically, meaning you have to really fight if you want to keep a nuanced view of the world.

A few years ago I did a very rudimentary test to see which of my friends followed people on both sides of the political aisle; of the 97 friends that followed at least one political source, only two of them followed people one on both sides. They’re the ones fighting to avoid the bubble.

Scott Adams

For years, Scott Adams (the creator of the popular “Dilbert” cartoon) blocked tons of people on Twitter ( example, example). It’s unknown how many he blocked, but it was presumably hundreds (if not thousands) because he was so proud of doing it. He was deliberately building a filter bubble to only see people that agree with him, which is certainly his right to do.

Then, a few days ago, he went on a racist tirade, suggesting among other things that white people should “get the hell away” from Black people. It was not good.

Everyone agrees?

This is where it gets interesting. I’ve not seen anyone online that supports what he had to say in…