How did we get to be the way we are– our tastes, our style, our families’ household incomes? Do we structure ourselves and our tastes and styles based on suggestions made to us by internet algorithms such as Amazon.com?

When I think about the way I used to go about finding books to read or movies to watch when I was young, I remember that if I had seen a friend reading/watching or being suggested a book or movie by a friend, the only other way I had to base my choosings on was by going to the store, looking in whatever genre I felt like delving into that particular day, and then reading the synopses on the backs of covers/boxes. My taste developed from there, reading/watching first and then deciding whether or not I liked it and would watch it again in the future or suggest it to others. Nowadays; however, things are much different.

With sites like Amazon.com and friendship databases like Facebook and Myspace, we have a lot more resources to help shape our tastes than ever before. Product sites like Amazon.com track and record our searches and purchases to make future suggestions to us, based on what an algorithm rounds off what it judges to be our likings. Also, how fickle have we become with sites like Facebook and Myspace? If we see something on someone’s profile that we like, how likely are we to check out the other things in the same category to see if we like those too? Or for the ones of us who are the most maleable, what a person wears on their body based on their interests/tastes listed on their profile might influence another person to try and dress the same.

What scares me is that we have lost our ability to shape our own tastes and styles. How well do I know the people that I know? Are their styles their own? How did they come to like that book they recommended to me? Did they even read it or did they read one that prompted Amazon to suggest the one to them that they later suggested to me, almost knowing that I would like it if they knew my tastes already. That would be extra creepy!