I’m following too many white dudes on Medium

After 2+ years on the platform, my feed was becoming too busy and full of stories I didn’t want to read. I knew what was causing the problem: I was following too many people.

I set out and purged who I followed from 4,000 to just over 200. I made my decision to keep following someone if they met the following criteria:

• I recognized their name and or photo as someone who’s content has provided me value in the past
• I personally know them

That’s it, I kept it simple. I only wanted to follow people who provide me value on Medium.

Happy with myself and my new, leaner feed, I went about my day. But then I noticed a more disheartening trend and decided to do a bit of digging.

I’ll let the data speak for itself:

• 60% of the people I follow are white men (two of which are B.J. Novak. B.J. or B.J. — will the real B.J. please stand up?)
• 18% are white women
• 8% are minorities
• 14% are brands/companies

The majority of the accounts I chose to still follow are white men.

Now I know I’m not racist, and I definitely know I’m not someone who says they’re not racist but actually are. However, I’m afraid I still hold divisive biases and prejudices somewhere in my subconscious.

I acknowledge I didn’t grow up in the most racially diverse culture. My suburban high school in Western Pennsylvania was 98% white. After moving to a city for college 9 years ago, I’ve had to confront my biases and prejudices in a culturally diverse environment.

I thought I’ve made progress, but the data says otherwise.

I now recognize that over my 2+ years using this platform I haven’t challenged myself to different perspectives and stories from minorities and women.

The women I do follow are mostly comedic writers or start-up founders. My wife is neither a comedian or a founder and I still find her interesting, why am I not following more women like her?

I say I’m against Trump’s travel ban and the wall, but I’ve closed off my feed to “outsiders.” How is that fair?