Tech recommendations can reveal more about us than we know ourselves - but how and why does this happen?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/1386796

Archived version: https://archive.ph/F9saW
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20230812233105/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66472938

  • AntiOutsideAktion [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Headline: How did Netflix know I was gay before I did?

    Sub header: After BBC reporter Ellie House came out as gay, she realised that Netflix already seemed to know. How did that happen?

    THE FIRST FUCKING LINE OF THE FUCKING ARTICLE: I realised that I was BISEXUAL in my second year of university, but Big Tech seemed to have worked it out several months before me.

    flag-bi-pride honk-enraged

    • The Octonaut@mander.xyz
      ·
      1 year ago

      Gay is a happily accepted term for "penis+penis", lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, whatever, in the UK & Ireland. It is basically "not straight"; you can think of it as the British word for 'queer', because 'queer' still often means, well, queer. I wish you would respect British people's choice of how they identify; America's obsession with clinical and distinct labeling hasn't claimed this particular lingual nuance yet. Not everything is an attack on your chosen identity.

    • DonnieDarkmode@lemm.ee
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’ve noticed that “gay” is used as a more general term for members of the LGBTQ+ community, similar to how “guys” has a pretty common gender-neutral usage

      EDIT: tweaked the wording a bit

      • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
        ·
        1 year ago

        “Guys” hasn’t actually been accepted as gender neutral for a number of years, due to its implicit anti-feminist bias (you’ll fit in if you act like us men).

        I struggle with not using it constantly, as it was the go-to gender neutral term for my generation.

        • DonnieDarkmode@lemm.ee
          ·
          1 year ago

          Thanks for the correction! I still hear that usage fairly often and wasn’t up with the discourse around it. Like the other reply I’m also more partial to “folks” personally (as well as “y’all”), but I think I still use “guys” out of habit on occasion