BURST YOUR BUBBLE!

The author of Can You Believe It? (2022), about spotting fake news, sounds an alarm over the hazards of inscrutable algorithms.

Introducing to young readers the concept of a personal “information bubble” that “prevents us from seeing things outside our comfort zone,” Grant warns that algorithms are everywhere online, tailoring ads, social media posts, and search results to our online activities. Though she notes that algorithms are not inherently good or bad—they fill cookbooks and organize library shelves, for instance—she does point to how easily they can limit our exposure to diverse points of view and feed our confirmation biases. As significant as her topic is, her substitution of general warnings and hypothetical cases for compelling examples or feasible best practices is unlikely to give youngsters more control over what they see. For instance, Grant advises readers to click “unsubscribe” buttons on messages from unknown senders—a potentially dangerous action—and her suggestion that users use Google to seek out new movies rather than relying on search engines in streaming apps ignores the fact that Google, too, has its own algorithms. Still, she is successful in her more limited aim to “try to be aware of our bubble” as a first step in thinking about ways to burst out. In Dolby’s illustrations, racially diverse groups, including one child in a wheelchair, pose amid fanciful representations of bubbles and networks.

Topical but limited, focused more on raising concerns than allaying them.