Peter J’s Click Bait and Advertising today

As I read Peter’s reflection on his experience with the User Inyerface, I can’t help but feel that we share the same frustration with just how we are drilled to navigate a website in a certain way that makes this site so infuriating to complete. Thinking back, I don’t think I have been taught how to navigate around a website, it is a skill that I’ve slowly acquired, through experience and random clicking, very similar to Peter’s idea of exploring intuitively, which I agree with. Web developers go above and beyond to make websites as easy to navigate as possible using symbols and colours that we automatically connect with. For example ‘x = no or close’ or ‘gree = click, go, or something is working’, etc. These are instilled in us since we were toddlers and our intuition kicks in when we are learning something new. I liked how Peter made the connection between his teenage son and his YouTube addiction because this showed how much we are deeply influenced by the media and what they use to catch our attention. It is working, but sometimes it is unfortunate that this wonderful algorithm is being used so effectively for advertising and not enough for areas that are more beneficial like making an immediate response to important life or death issues (Rainie & Anderson, 2017). Even though we are not ready to let the computer take over making life or death decisions for us, yet, but I think it is possible to delve deeper into this area for future possibilities.

Rainie, L. & Anderson, J. (February 8, 2017). Code-Dependent: Pros and Cons of the Algorithm Age. PEW Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/02/08/code-dependent-pros-and-cons-of-the-algorithm-age/