Candy or chickpeas

Imagine a parent asking his son what he wants to eat today. Imagine the child enthusiastically telling him "pizza!" and hearing the parent say "OK, then let's go for pizza!" If you are like most of us, you would not see anything wrong with indulging your son once in a while.

But what if I told you this conversation happens every day, and that one day the boy eats pizza, hamburgers on the next one and candy the following? What would you think about his parent now? Quite likely that he is not being a good parent. You would probably remark that everybody should eat healthily, and especially children. Perhaps you would add that kids need to eat salads and chickpeas and fresh fish, even if they do not like them very much.

Well, something similar is happening today, before your very eyes, with our digital communities. Some of them are like candy. They are famous. They offer you free entertainment, free business opportunities and many other things, but they are owned by corporations that use algorithms to show you what they think you are going to like most, and that record everything everyone does in them to analyze it later. Others are like chickpeas. They do not use algorithms, they do not harvest any datum and, despite being way less famous than the others, they offer an authentic social experience to all its users.

I will not ask you which would of them you would say is healthier because I am sure you already know the answer. I am more interested in knowing what you have decided to feed yourself today: candy or chickpeas.