The Algorithm

Day 129 / 366

In the early days of Social media, everything was search-based. You came to sites like YouTube with something already in mind that you wanted to watch. You were controlling the media that you consumed, not the other way around.

Then came the infamous algorithm. The promise was tremendous. This magical piece of code would understand your likes and dislikes and then would suggest you content that you would love. No longer will you be frustrated trying to find something to consume, the Algorithm will do that for you.

It started small, first with just the recommended feed. The algorithm was still passive. It presented you with some suggestions, but you were still the one making the choice. You still felt in control. But you really appreciated the algorithm. Slowly you began to trust it. You switched on the autoplay button and let the algorithm take the wheel.

With the introduction of TikTok and reels though, everything changed. You no longer have any control. All you can do is keep swiping up, spending more and more time on the app at the mercy of the almighty algorithm. And you will slowly find out that its intentions were never good. It’s only aim is to make you not leave the app, and it will do anything it can to that end.

If Instagram feels that you see more reels if you are sad, it will try to keep you sad. Have you ever felt how an app can somehow find out that you are in a shitty mood and it starts feeding you content that makes you even sadder? Yes, it’s just that good.

And there is no control left now. Even if you try to search for something on Youtube now, it will show you 4–5 relevant results and then start showing you suggestions, which have nothing to do with what you searched for.

We’re all slaves to the algorithm.