The Algorithm Snare
The ghost in the machine that controls what you see, hear and feel.
Had this happened to you?
You on your phone scrolling Instagram, Youtube reels or Tik-Tok. You thumb is flicking by many videos. Your eyes are glued to the screen.
Your thumb has double tapped videos that you liked and you continue watching them as they roll into your fed. Time has slipped away and next minute you snap back into reality. Once you bring your eyes away and adjust: Do you actually remember what you just looked at? What was the first video you watched? The third,even? The last one, have you forgotten already? Have you just spent time scrolling on a app but feel like you haven’t absorbed anything at all?
What exactly has you doing this and how did you go down the rabbit hole of endless videos that feed you back the very thing you liked. What made you even start this journey and how did you get there. Was it a genuine interest in a subject or a further drive into something you liked already. This phenomenon that is happening is effecting everybody you know and even you, and you are completely oblivious to it because you are already hooked into this loop.
Do you know what I am talking about?
Everyone is in their own bubbles. They are in their own online world and they are in a endless supply of scrolling and likes that is being fed to them by an nameless and also soulless beast. The beast has a name and it’s called : The Algorithm.
Every social media website from Instagram ,Facebook, Youtube, X ( still know as Twitter to some) ,Tik-Tok, Reddit and Snapchat to name a few are the most used apps by the general pubic and they all use their very own algorithm. Each one is completely different from the other in their own way. While they may have the same mechanic’s and function’s, they are run completely different and have their own tasks. Before I give examples of them. Let me break down what a algorithm is.
An algorithm is a code that is designed to be placed in a computer top solve problems in a simple way. It is made to decipher content that is catered towards your very own needs, likes and interests. Once you start using the apps and engaging more with them, that is when it starts to work. From the very moment you start to use it and navigate through the app, It will give you recommendations on your already short time on it. This continues to grow the more you engage with it and it will pick you what you have seen liked, viewed and even posted and throw back the same content in your direction. The algorithm knows you.
You like cat videos or sports videos? Well, here are tons of videos about that.Cooking channels or language personalities ? Say no more, one click or follow and there you are, everything lined up for your picking. You are curating your own content. Just for you and your eyes only. You did that yourself, but did you?
Basically, the algorithm is working in order to keep you hooked in for as long as possible. It is the never ending beast that needs more likes and shares. The belly of a abyss that is never full. And it has you exactly where it want’s you: In it’s snare.
Set aside, the mindless scrolling and numbing of the mind for a moment and take into account what this knows about you. The algorithm not only takes what you like and look’s at it, it also takes private information off you and then throws ads your way due to what it collects. Every get a specific ad on you timeline and it is oddly, weirdly evasive to you specifically. That is the hidden shadow that lurks behind your phone, it is collecting your data and sending it back towards you and getting advertisers to sell their products to you because of what the sneaky algorithm knows of you.
Isn’t that... I don’t know?, ... absolutely wrong!
You are willingly giving over everything to something that isn’t a real being and then that somehow filters content direct for you to enjoy, consume and also continue to take in.
You are literally creating a micro-universe engaging with this algorithm. An Eco chamber, if you will. You alone and are floating in this space of videos, Vlogs, podcasts and one minute reels that you take in.
And do you think that is stops working when you finally put down the phone?
Most certainly not. Your phone works while you sleep. It lays dominant until you interact with it again and the cycle continues, of course but it is getting that content ready and lining it up for you the second you pick up that device. You are back at it and it just becomes routine. Sucked into it again and repeating the process.
This is a dangerous tool that this being used and manipulated by people in order to push certain agenda’s, views, undermine public figures and get a message across that hooks people into whatever world they are seeking or trying to convey. When you have a cycle of content and opinions being fed to you over and over again, especially if you are someone who is easily led or is looking for a certain take. The algorithm does not care who you are or you belief’s, it will give you back what you are looking for and dismiss what you don’t like. In the loop you are and in there you stay.
It is causing isolation. It is creating multiple different micro groups in spaces that are already vulnerable already. You can’t break out of something or question it because you are afraid of hearing the truth or you believe that what you know is correct, so you dive into it further and further. The deeper you go into the machine, the harder it is to return.
The most vulnerable group that are falling for this are not the younger generation which has their ow problem with social media. The group most vulnerable and getting stuck in this loop are the older generation. As a demographic that came from a pre-internet world and now playing catch up, they are believing everything that has been told to them because they don’t know any better. This is not only ruining minds and beliefs, it is ruining families, friendship and eroding trust in communities.
Mental health is at an all time low with the majority of groups around the world. Now engaging with endless videos and content while doom scrolling does have an effect on the human mind. Too much social media has caused a spike in anxiety, depression and low self-esteem across the board. Comparing you own life to a minute video and wondering why your life isn’t like that, is not real life. Yet, the public lap this up. The age range is not solely focused on the younger generation. Everyone is getting this.
The social media algorithm and mental decline go hand in hand. Bold statement, I know. It may not be the sole reason or the core issue of someones mental health issues, but it doesn’t help either.
Communities now are more online then in real life. When you have micro-communities within already sub-communities that is a concerning trend. The breakdown of it is caused by algorithms and the growing divide that it is causing online and now seeping into the real world.
Are you in control of what you see and hear? Or do you think you are?
I don’t want to be an alarmist with every article that I post. I am very self aware that my own social media accounts are also created and controlled by the algorithm. But, I can take a step back and realise that is all done intentionally. I can go, make myself a nice coffee, pick up a book and get lost for a morning, an evening or a day in it.
The question is:
Can you?
Thank you for reading this article of mine. Please let me know what you think and thanks for taken the time to do so.
Slán Go Fóill
-Marc Sean
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