Bubble
Bubble may refer to any of the following:
1. With an activity or experience, a bubble describes an isolated area where only like-minded members participate. For example, when visiting a social media site, like YouTube, your recommended videos are in your account bubble. These videos are recommended by an algorithm based on your past viewing habits. For example, if you only watch videos with a certain political view, you likely only see similar recommended videos because it's what the algorithm believes you enjoy. Although you're more likely to watch a recommended video, with the algorithm keeping you in a bubble, you may not see or believe there are any opposing views.
What's the harm of being in a bubble?
Being in a bubble can be good since most good algorithms show content tailored to your interests. However, not knowing you're in a bubble is bad. For example, if you watched several YouTube videos about the Earth being flat, you may begin to believe the Earth is flat because it's all you see and are recommended. Consequently, bubbles can be harmful because you may unconsciously form beliefs that are not true. That said, realizing you have that belief because you're in a bubble makes it less of a problem.
Also, bubbles are designed by an algorithm to keep you engaged as long as possible. Essentially, it's likely you'll spend more time than you should be consuming content if it's all subjects you enjoy.
How can I break out of a bubble?
Today, most companies say they tweaked their algorithms to help show content outside your bubble. However, in general, websites want you to visit as long as possible (to show more ads), and their owners primarily rely on your viewing habits.
To help break out of your bubble, seek out and consume content with opposing views. For example, if you're frequently doomscrolling, your recommended list may only include content relating to the end of the world. Search for and consume content with opposing views (e.g., why the end of the world isn't happening). By searching, reading, and watching different types of content, the algorithm learns to give more balanced recommendations.
Breaking out of bubbles must become a habit. Performing the actions above for only a few minutes isn't going to trick the algorithm. Part of how these algorithms work is by looking at the time you spend consuming each type of content. If you spent over 100 hours watching car-related videos and 30 minutes watching computer-related videos, it assumes you're more interested in cars.
2. When describing a screen saver, bubble or bubbles is a screen saver showing bubbles that float around the screen.
3. As an event, a bubble refers to a time that's about to end (pop). For example, the dot com bubble was a time in the late 1990s when Internet-related companies made enormous amounts of money from stocks and investments because they were overvalued. When the bubble popped, many people lost a lot of money and jobs from all the companies that closed.
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