Thanks for writing this article. I think it’s an important one that many people can relate to. I also think that we’ve each used the Internet differently. You’ve acknowledged that in this piece, so I won’t try to deride you for it.

I work as the social media guy for a very prominent university, and I’ve found that since taking on this position, I barely share anything on my personal accounts. Prior to that I’d share articles, funny pictures, health tips. Things that built my persona, but weren’t ever intrusive – I’d never share a selfie, as even at a young age I never understood their appeal or purpose.

I very much put myself in the position of the reader before I post. I ask: “Would I want to see this in my feed?”. If not, it won’t get posted. That may be why I never posted selfies. Only the person posting them is really getting a hit of dopamine, especially when the enablers (who also post selfies) hit that like button.

Anyway, my point is, I liked the idea of sharing content and analysing engagement of that content. I get that from my job (on a much larger, tiring scale), so I don’t care to do it as much from my personal accounts. I now only use them for important information sharing (once in a blue moon) and to keep family and friends easily updated on my whereabouts while traveling – I probably also like that I look “worldly”, as I’ll share a picture of a locale with some history as the caption.

I don’t think that most of the world is as introspective as you. I don’t think the greater community really understands “algorithms” and a customised web experience. They just jump on, do their thing, feel good or bad afterward and then do it again in a few minutes when they get the urge for another hit.

Facebook intelligently analyses the behaviour of its user base and tweaks it’s platform accordingly. These used to be major updates that incurred major protests and threats to leave the platform. Now they’re incremental updates that keep users unknowingly wanting more. It’s Facebook’s job to keep people coming back, and they’re doing it well. They’re about to introduce an algorithm to Instagram and there’s whispers Twitter may do it too. Most people will carry on and allow this phantom customisation to pull them deeper into the platforms.

It’s only the rare folk who wake up and see the bigger picture that begin to pull away. I commend you for doing so. Especially because you haven’t switched it all off; instead, you’ve added some much needed control and focus to the social digital world.