Search engine filter bubbles should be popped

If you are going to use the Internet, use it wisely.

Growing evidence shows it feeds us what it thinks we want, not necessarily what we need.

Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble, says that search engines filter search results to cater to your favorite past selections.  Pariser cautions this can lead to search engines confining many people within their own preferences and narrowing their worldview.

But don’t worry.  If you follow a few simple steps, you can pop the filter bubble.

Dump your cookies daily.  Every time you browse a site, it injects your machine with cookies, pieces of text your Web browser stores on your hard drive.  Advertisements on the site add their own, and partner sites will sneak some in too. 

Delete your history.  It will cloud the potential to learn something new from a different site.  Search engines’ algorithms notice patterns in results.  They provide limited selections based on that data instead of supplying users with the extensive information we expect.

Use ADBlock.  Mozilla Firefox, a Web browser, offers this program.  It limits ads in sidebars in attempts to disable as many of advertisers’ cookies as possible.  Also, fiddle with your advanced security settings to browse privately.  Firefox lets you opt out of behavioral tracking—search engines do observe and record your searching habits.

Don’t let your Web browsers dictate how you interact with the Internet.  The Web is your tool, not the other way around.