When we entered the Internet era, the interaction of information has become incredibly convenient, when you need what kind of information, just need to enter in the search engine, you can immediately query the results you want, and now with the emergence of jittery voice, microblogging and other applications APP, we should be from the APP to get more rich knowledge or information, to broaden our horizons. But in fact, it seems that we do not get the expected results, and even fall into a bigger circle - lack of patience, intolerance of other people's suggestions that are not the same as their own ideas, and lose the ability to communicate well with the outside world as well as the opportunity to open up their own horizons.

Why is there such a strange phenomenon when there is supposed to be a platform for communication and sharing, where everyone has access to much more information than before? We may be able to explore one or two from the recommendations of these APP.

The "information cocoon" of the Internet platform

In the short video platform such as Jitterbug, if you are a new user, then Jitterbug will indeed recommend you on all sides of the wonderful short video, from food to scenery, from beauty to handsome. All kinds of information into your eyes, will make you sigh the richness and colorfulness of the world, but when you like a certain food video, in the next push, it will recommend you more food videos, if you continue to like or watch the pushed video, it will continue to push more food videos to you. And so on and so forth, and finally your Jitterbug app may really become a short food video app.

The reason for this situation is closely related to the current development of big data and algorithms, the use of big data and algorithmic recommendation technology, Jitterbug to accurate personalized content delivery captured a large number of loyal users. The secret of Jitterbug's success is to make full use of today's headline's data mining technology to collect users' browsing records, likes, user demographics and so on, profiling users and pushing content that meets users' "needs".

This kind of recommendation is really appealing to users because it gives them the content they want, and it doesn't require a lot of effort to find it. But on the other hand, it also cuts off the possibility of users learning about other things, and it draws a circle around the information you want to know, which is provided to you inside the circle. But more information outside the circle can not enter your field of vision, not to mention learning. Over time, the user's ability to think holistically about things declines, and this change is difficult to perceive. It's as if they've wrapped themselves into a cocoon and become isolated from the outside world. Harvard professor Keith Sunstein called this phenomenon "information cocooning" in his 2006 book "Information Utopia - How the Crowd Produces Knowledge".

On Jieyin's short-form video platform, algorithms and big data provide users with a large amount of homogenized content that meets their "needs," allowing them to set their own limits. On China's other social media platform, Weibo, it's a different story.

In recent years, microblogging seems to have become a battleground, and any topic that is widely discussed will always lead to a heated debate between the two sides, which is of course a good thing, and it's normal for opinions to differ, and for there to be an interaction of ideas that will drive progress. However, on the microblogging site, the debate is a different story, there is no insightful thinking, there is no discussion on the theme of the event, more people are just in the microblogging this battlefield to act as an emotional output hand, just to argue and argue, regardless of how the content.

Both Weibo and ShakeMe have some similarities, in that you can choose your favorite content and follow your favorite bloggers. By doing so, you can easily access more content that matches your favorites. And your favorite content will be pushed to your microblogging interface at the first time. Microblogging is more about socializing, and when you like something, you'll be exposed to people who match your preferences. This is a normal thing, people with similar interests are more likely to establish communication, but on the Internet, the interaction between people has become easier, a same opinion, will gather a group of people with the same opinion, which is a group, but in this group, the views of people are the same, there is no go to put forward a different view of the individual. The result is that these views are reinforced by each other and spread among the group. The people in the group believe that this view is the whole truth. But this intra-group propagation can lead to the alienation and distortion of the idea, resulting in the ideas and concepts of the individuals in the group being affected by the subtle influence.

This can lead to the group rejecting people who disagree with them, and not wanting to accept or understand what they think because it's a lot of work. Rejection is the easiest and least laborious way to do this.

Of course this phenomenon of a group as a circle, believing in the same idea, closing itself off to rejecting information from the outside is very similar to the information cocoon, and can almost be considered as a twin sister, a phenomenon that was proposed by the psychologist Cass R. Sustein.

The "way out" of the information cocoon

Once we know how we have constructed the information cocoon on the Internet platform, how do we break out of it? Either we hope that the platform can change its algorithm to make it more accountable, or we start by changing ourselves so that we can grow up and break out of the information cocoon.

Keeping an inquisitive mind and exploring the unknown

Receiving a single, one-sided, only-interesting information may make you look at the problem from a more one-sided perspective, and not enough cognition. By keeping an inquiring mind and exploring the unknown, you can gain a more diversified perspective and discover more valuable information. And learn from it

Keep a humble attitude

When you are arguing with someone about a subject, keep a humble attitude, if the other side has something worth learning, then it is more important to seek knowledge, not just because the two sides do not agree and oppose each other. Learning from different points of view, then the first thing you have to do is to keep a humble heart

Improve your information literacy

In this era of information explosion, tens of thousands of new information every day, we can't possibly understand all of them, so you should learn how to recognize the information, what's valuable, and what's useless. Keep a clear head in the face of the plethora of information, find the key to it exclude the homogenized content. Let the information work for you, not get caught up in it.

Make the algorithm work for you

Since the algorithm's feature is there, recommending the information you are interested in, you can use it to your advantage to find the information that is really valuable and that you need, and the process will help you cut down on the time you spend on it. Algorithms are just tools, the use of a tool lies in the person who uses it. Some people use it to waste time aimlessly, others use it as their best tool to learn and progress.

Ultimately, it's the person's choice that makes all the difference.

In the end, it's human choice that makes all the difference.