According to the Internet...you and I are just categories.

 In Week 5's reading, Weapons of Math Destruction, by Cathy O'Neill, O'Neill discusses a phenomenon that most people have mixed opinions on---customized search results. At a glance, customized search results seem like a genius and all-around-positive feature for all Internet users to benefit from, but Cathy O'Neill pushes back on this notion by discussing how search engines take advantage of individuals by allowing companies to use personal data and show them things they're in desperate need of. She gives an example of for-profit universities like the University of Phoenix taking advantage of low-income students’ desire for education to grant them a degree with low respectability (O’Neill 69). Like the one above, O'Neill's examples highlight the negative effects that customized content can have on people. While it may seem like a beneficial and uber-efficient process at first, the decisions we make based on it can negatively affect our livelihoods. 


In Monday’s class, we discussed and witnessed how search engines Google, in this case, categorizes our preferences to customize content presented to us. Although I first doubted such a system's accuracy, my perspective changed as I looked at their compiled list. Among this list were the genres of music I listen to, like Latin Pop and Rock, and my favorite car brand: Mercedes-Benz. As I reflect on the advertisements and social media posts I’ve seen lately, there has been an incredible amount of promotions of nearby Latin artist concerts and Mercedes-Benz special offer car sales. Awareness of this issue allows me to be more conscious of my decisions or how I think based on what’s presented. 



Below is an advertisement from Toll Brothers, a real-estate development company. I've been looking for places to rent lately, and this is one of many ads I've recently seen:




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