Long ago, when I first went all-web on my news sources, my mentor made the above "digital divide" comment.
Now, with Tampermonkey, I'm able to filter my news feeds. Prior to TM, I filtered my rss news feeds with my custom reader. Up until today, I've always kept Google News open/unfiltered so I could see the (ugly tip of the) real world. But, yesterday, I got sick of Hoboken and Wells Fargo. *Poof* they are gone.
It's a slipperry slope.
It's the downside of our new media world.
We're both old enough to remember the day when if Walter Cronkite didn't think it was important, it wasn't news and almost nobody knew except eyewitnesses and committed activists. But if Cronkite thought it was news, we *all* knew.
Now, I encounter people where we hardly share any "facts" at all. It is one thing I miss about Facebook - the spectrum of ideologies among my FB friends is actually quite broad and I feel like, despite what people say, it was the best place for getting me outside the algorithmic bubble. Sometimes I'll recommend and article I like, but vehemently disagree with on Pocket or whatever just to keep that perspective in the algo.
BTW, how many black men did die in Norfolk?
My filters sometimes work a little too good. Every once in a while I have to hit one of those normal news sites to see what the buzz is all about. Google News is often where I end up before I clamp all the settings back down and return to my safe space away from all those trigger words...
>BTW, how many black men did die in Norfolk?
IIRC, 3 that day.
Norfolk is part of a greater metro area (a.k.a Tidewater or Hampton Roads) where 6 Virginia cities have physically merged, Total pop is around 5m, I think. Though I live in NC about 50 minutes away, ALL of our mass media came out of Tidewater until the internet, so I grew up knowing more about the VA government, etc. than those my home state/region. (We did have a decent local rag.) It was also our major shopping area for holiday shopping, major malls, etc. With the internet AND Amazon, I was able to secede.
> little too good. Every once in a while
Yeah, that's why I kept Gnews as a touchstone.
update:
>Up until today, I've always kept Google News open/unfiltered
> filters sometimes work a little too good
>kept Gnews as a touchstone
>slippery slope
I solved this with different levels of opacity (dim or nearly-hide) and showing the kws that caused the filter to kick in.