'Bias' - the unseen influencer in the digital world

Last post - we talked about the science behind social connection in the digital world, this post we are aiming to cover - 'bias' & to find out a vaccine for getting rid of it. 

Before we start discussing further - let's be clear - a vaccine is not a cure but an arrangement which prevents the load of the probability of a pathogen (like bias) from exceeding the capability to trigger a compensating immune response from the system in process of being infected & it will never be a constant configuration, vaccines undergo changes as the pathogen changes while striking a healthy asset - here - the mind of an individual.

Okay so now - that we've got the basics clear - let's dwelve into it deeper - before we start discussing about how to to remove bias let's try to understand how a bias can be triggered in action. 

What trigger's bias? (origin) - We in our conscious & sub-sub-consious world are subject to inherent bias developing from the content fed into us from our known senses - currently a major portion of this input comes in via digital means as our lifestyles have changed to undergo an acceptance positioning via the ability to allow digital inputs an easy pathway to the brain and add  a confidence factor associated with it. 

So first pattern to understand and break the bias off directly focusses on widening our sensory receptacle input points. 

How to do this? - well, start with :

1. Minimizing the digital input point to a factor which allows you time to develop & open other entry points.

    Safe reduction factor can be set at 30 - 40% of present digital input timeframe. This means putting a time limit to your access to digital devices - handhelds, mobile phones, laptops(web) or notifications. Some companies have started to give you a break-down of the scale of your digital input involvement by providing you a digital footprint summary - which helps. Limiting might be categorised into:

•  Social - includes any basic social communicating engine like the many available today including any shopping or dating engines too.
•  Web - includes content search which may be a component of blind surfing.
•  Video - includes aimless video watching which can contribute to reinforcement of useless patterns.

The entry and exit from from these content sources should be optimised often on.

2. Expanding your sensory input points - try getting information from sources which provide a more active    real and enhanced point of input of content - like for example going to the place where an event happened, talking to the person face to face, meeting with the individual - whenever possible than going for a chat via a web interface. The small talk communication engines have been developed with a view to keep it small & start feeding in wrong input to the brain once the time frame is extended. This doesn't apply to work as - work oriented communications are very focussed so control points are inherently activated. Although when using chat which is asynchronous communication point for an activated discussion can lead to human brain putting in an assumption based on bias, hence more communication drop & greater chance of confidence drop out & before you know - bias is doing it's magic already.

3. Expanding your input from sources - whenever there is a bias, a good way to approach to resolve it is to look forward at both points of view. If it is content related bias - an easy resolution is to look at both parties for the content and against it and understand the logical positioning involved. The worst kind of situation is where a pathogen utilises sub-consciously infected brain already injected with a bias for a prolonged period of time. This can lead to quick decisioning overlooking the details and hence lead to either a negative injunction of an action which can cause serious harm - well - psychoanalysts can go on & on this for a long time but essence of it is - it needs to be stopped before it can start doing what it likes to do.

Lastly but definitely not the least be aware of the pattern - mostly called for lack of a better name as analytical sleeper pattern - wherein a person or algorithm can blindly be a part of injecting the content which contains pathogen to create an impending bias, most of the times the algorithm or person is unaware and small unnoticed  actions can lead to a group being on the receiving end of this journey. Again - human developed content can still be questioned, analysed & thought over but if the content created was a work of an algorithm driven by a human - it can be difficult to perceive or question back with exact tenacity.

Last - but not the least - we are living in a world - where there is a human mind & a digital mind at play - so the idea here is to make sure - the digital minds works to get the humans serviced in the right direction and not other way round. Any content which doesn't define a positive purpose in long term fails and leads to a virtual value proposition in future. More on this in the next post ... keep those analytical thinking cells alive until then!