That time a student called me out for my own search bubble

I was showing my 8th graders how to research for a project. I was using Google like normal. One kid raises his hand and says 'Ms. Nguyen, why does your search show different results than mine?' We compared. His was all recent news. Mine was the same five sites I've used for years. The algorithm had me in a loop. He was right. Made me wonder how many other things I'm missing because the algorithm decided I only need one version.

2 comments

2 Comments

barnes.jamie7d ago

Seems like this is really just a you problem, not some big conspiracy.

garcia.charles7d ago

The search loop hits harder when you realize it's not just Google. Everything from YouTube recommendations to news feeds does the same thing. Once you start paying attention, you see the same sources recycling the same takes over and over. Breaking out of it takes actual effort, like deleting your history or using incognito mode on purpose.