Eli Pariser uses the terms "information vegetables" and "information dessert" as a metaphor to describe different types of information people consume.
- Information vegetables refer to the important, substantive, and often challenging news or facts that are essential for being well-informed and engaged citizens. These are like the "vegetables" in a diet - necessary but sometimes less immediately appealing.
- Information dessert refers to lighter, more entertaining content such as pop culture, celebrity gossip, or trivial articles that are enjoyable but not essential for understanding important issues. This is analogous to dessert, which is tasty and fun but not the main nutritional part of a meal.
Pariser argues that algorithms on social media and search engines tend to serve more "information dessert" - the fun, easy-to-consume content - rather than a balanced "diet" that includes enough "information vegetables." This imbalance can lead to filter bubbles where people are exposed mostly to trivial or agreeable content, limiting their exposure to diverse and important perspectives
. In summary, Pariser means that for a healthy information diet, people need both "vegetables" (important, sometimes difficult information) and "dessert" (entertaining content), but current online algorithms often skew too much toward the dessert, which can harm informed public discourse.
