How algorithms birthed a generation of anxious people
It’s one thing to tell ourselves we’re being irrational. To invalidate our own thoughts and feelings with proof that they aren’t founded. That our fears are unrealistic. But what happens when what you see every day reinforces those fears?
We make snap second decisions all day every day. We base those decisions on the available data around us. This can be a simple as which brand of milk you buy, down to whether or not a particular situation. Feel safe to you. Many instances we don’t think too much about what might be influencing our decisions, and in most cases, it probably isn’t very important to understand. But what about when those subconscious influences begin to cause, anxiety and depression, because they’ve impacted the way we see the world?
By now, almost everyone has some rudimentary understanding of the way the feeds on our phones work. We hear about this most often related to social media. The absolute use are able to see and track what you click on and what you spend time watching and feed you more of that. Not everybody realizes this also happens with other platforms , such as what news is displayed to you and what topics come up on Google searches. Almost all of our device related interactions during the day are influenced by algorithms that are tracking what we shown interest in. Unfortunately, human beings spend more time digesting negative information. From our survival standpoint, this makes a lot of sense. Good feelings are wonderful but they aren’t necessary for survival. We need to know what dangers are looking around the corner so that we can protect ourselves and continue the survival the species. Unfortunately, survival instincts weren’t meant to protect us against predator algorithms. Today there are many people who probably feel like the world is more dangerous than ever before solely based on the news stories, and Instagram reels that are coming across their phone every day. Other people might believe that suffer from body dysmorphia disorder because they feel like they’re the only person in the world with body fat. Still others buying into conspiracy theories and alienate themselves from loved ones. It’s the rare few who trained their algorithm to produce happy and inspirational content. For the rest of the world is full of murderers and abusers, and there may not be a single kind soul left on earth.
How do we protect ourselves? When the very devices we rely on, seem to be systematically determined to make us feel anxious and depressed? The same way it takes conscious effort to stop unconscious intrusive thoughts, we need to use that same conscious effort to stop intrusive content on our phones. The same way you might distract yourself or force yourself to think happy thoughts when something negative pops into your head, you also need to resist the urge to click on the negative reels, or the heartbreaking articles. That isn’t to say you have to disconnect from reality, or pretend that nothing is wrong in the world. But trust me, those stories will still make their way to you. In the meantime, you need to let the algorithm know that you’re concerned with more than just the bad things happening in the world. Purposely click on happy content. Linger on reels that make you feel good. Let yourself go down the rabbit hole of positive vibes! if you feel like your feet is particularly toxic you might think about deleting your history so the algorithm is learning from scratch. Or even creating a new account for that matter. And of course there’s always the option of disconnecting, at least to a degree. Less time on our phones is generally correlated with improved well-being. So take time to literally smell the roses and stop looking at them on Instagram.
