I find myself thinking how much technology has had an influence on polarisation of viewpoints, particularly political ones (conservative vs liberal).

There is a correlation between young adults coming of age in the era of "Recommended for you" playlists and "People who bought this also bought" recommendations. I feel that these algorithms followed for long enough cause you to end up in one extreme or another.

We have young students who are exposed to a single viewpoint for such a long time that it becomes part of their identity. Either for the right or the left.

Now at university these two sides sometimes clash. Neither side is willing to hear the other argument as listening to them will invalidate a core part of their identity.

This all seems to be a side effect of technology companies trying to maximise profit. The longer a user stays on the site the more money they make (ads, products, etc).

As techies, how can we be socially responsible while also profiting? Is it possible as a public company?