Recommended For You:

It always starts small. You like one video about workouts, and your screen is flooded with countless workouts and diets. You watch a video game clip, and before you know it, hours have flown by, and you're still watching the same video game. The scariest part? You did not choose any of the videos.

This is the world of algorithmic recommendations: the invisible force that chooses what you watch, listen to, and believe.

Algorithms are everywhere. The “For You” page on TikTok, the posts that appear at the top of your Instagram feeds, and your next YouTube binge. They are all decided by algorithms. Specifically, algorithms are based on your likes, watch time, and interactions. Looking at it from a surface level, algorithms seem helpful. However, the problem is that the algorithm's goal isn’t to make you healthier or happier. Their only goal is to keep you online for as long as possible.

However, the problem doesn’t end just there. The most concerning consequence of these algorithms is the rapid rabbit hole effect they have on the users. According to a study published by the Center for Humane Technology, after analyzing two million recommendations and 72 million comments on YouTube in 2019, the researchers found that “its recommendation system steers viewers towards politically extreme content.” These escalating changes occur so subtly that most people don’t realize the shift until they’re too deep in.

Aside from the escalating changes, another way that they harm the people is through the echo chamber effect, where the users are exposed to the same content based on the same perspective again and again. In an article published by Forbes on the echo chamber effects that social media has, Justin Miller, an associate professor of practice in the School of Cyber Studies at the University of Tulsa, the echo chamber type dynamic that social media has “reinforces biases and rarely shifts political allegiances, leaving many unaware of their role in a larger ideological game.” This digital isolation isn’t just annoying–it’s powerful. They narrow ones worldview and limit exposure to diverse perspectives. If algorithms continue to impact social media consumption in similar ways, their impact will rise beyond consumption and spread into one's perception of the world.

Some platforms have added safety measures like “not interested” buttons and “sleep time” reminders, but these act only as surface-level fixes. However, knowing that these are measures implemented by companies that are trying to keep users online and engaged for as long as possible, no matter the health and social consequences, it can be concluded that these don't truly stop the harm that algorithms do.

An effective measure that one can take is to practice digital awareness. There are countless articles and speeches about digital awareness. But in order to make digital awareness work, one needs to question and take control of their social media experience. This might include questioning facts one sees, actively seeking multiple viewpoints, and diversifying the things and people one sees. Sometimes, simply going offline and seeing the world for oneself may be the most effective choice.

Algorithms and social media are powerful, but they are not invincible. The more control one has, the less control these systems will have.