"More and more students now have their worldviews shaped not by textbooks or lectures but by endlessly scrolling feeds, carefully tailored by algorithms they rarely think about," writes Olivia Kelly. It raises the question of how we should teach students about them (I'll just assume that the answer to the question in the headline is 'yes'). "Social media algorithms consistently reinforce ideological homogeneity, limit viewpoint diversity, and intensify polarization among young users." But we need to say more here than simply that students should be educated, just as we need to do more than simply block access to young people. Social media is just one part of a broader media landscape that includes all other media, online and offline, intelligent or otherwise, all of which shape a person's perspective. Just being aware of this would be a start, but knowing how to preserve one's agency and identity in such a landscape is a much taller task.
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