Seth's Blog : Filtering ourselves

Filtering ourselves

We don’t use the same language or ideas with an in-law that we do with our bar buddies.

When the internet was young, people often chose to filter themselves online. We didn’t know who was on the other end of the pipe, and we knew it would be there forever. And typing feels more permanent and official than speaking…

Over time, the algorithms rewarded people who were guttural, hurtful, profane and, to use an overused and inefficient word, “authentic.” And so it flipped.

Now, social media is filled with amped-up rants that pretend to be unfiltered, and the standard for discourse is quickly eroding. There’s plenty of data to confirm that we’re spewing words and ideas that would never be tolerated in person, with friends.

Why should our standard for public behavior be lower than it is for the people we know?

Unfiltered doesn’t mean real. Because it’s our filters that make us who we are.