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Filter Bubble Trouble

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP | GRADE 12

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Essential Question

How can filter bubbles limit the information

we’re exposed to?

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Learning Objectives

Define "filter bubble" and explain how it occurs.

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Reflect on the limitations and drawbacks that filter bubbles cause.

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Identify strategies for escaping their own filter bubbles.

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Discuss:

  • What is a filter bubble? How does it work?

WATCH + DISCUSS

How social media filter bubbles work, CNN Business.

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Filter bubble

KEY VOCABULARY

When your social media feed and what you see online only aligns with your existing beliefs and experiences

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Algorithm

KEY VOCABULARY

A piece of computer code that outlines specific steps to solve a problem

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Personalized content

KEY VOCABULARY

Information that a website or an app shows you based on what it thinks you want to see

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ACTIVITY: REASONS FOR FILTER BUBBLES

Watch the video from internet activist Eli Pariser. Listen actively during the video and write your responses to the questions that follow. You can use the transcript of the video for support.

Part 1 Directions

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  1. [Capture student responses here.]

Why are filter bubbles a problem?

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Discuss:

  • What are some ways you can burst your filter bubble?

WATCH + DISCUSS

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  • [Capture student responses here.]

Strategies to pop out of your bubble

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ACTIVITY: BURST YOUR BUBBLE

Reflect on what you see in your social media feeds and on other websites that you visit. What kinds of posts, articles, links, ads, etc., do you see that might be inside your filter bubble? Write them above the green arrows.

Then, think about steps you could take to burst your filter bubble, and write them below the red arrows. What sites, people, opinions, etc., could you seek out? What other steps could you take?

Part 2 Directions

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