Algorithmic Atrophy
Algorithms. You've all heard of them, likely even if you aren't a techie person. Nearly every website and application uses them nowadays, as they're vital in the popularity and longevity of them. They aren't innocent, though. They're actually incredibly harmful to how we go about our days as humans (you better not be a bot [or a lizard]). How long do you spend on social media? Well, according to the article Social Media and Youth Mental Health published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, the average teenager spends 3.5 hours per day on social media; that is nearly 15% of their 24 hour day. We'll touch more on that later.
What technically is an algorithm?
Well, how you just found my blog is an algorithm. You might have used a search engine that sorts through a titanic dataset to find what you're looking for. Even if you didn't use a search engine, this website uses an algorithm. Albeit, it's a very simple algorithm; it just sorts the information based on the date it was published. Nonetheless, it is an algorithm. The problem doesn't lie with these algorithms, though. The real problem is when it comes to social media sites. Some of these are:
- TikTok
- Twitter (infrequently known as X)
- Among many others
All of these sites use a significantly more complex form of an algorithm to hold your attention on them.
What's so wrong about these sites/apps?
Let's start with TikTok, as they in recent past had the greatest algorithm among the lot. TikTok is a social media platform that serves their userbase short-form videos. All the user has to do is swipe up to see the next video. It's really convenient. The user can double tap the screen to like the video and can also communicate with other users through the comments. When scrolling, the application is noticing how long you watch each video and if you double tap it to like it. If you're on the video for too little of time, you're not interested. If you don't "like" the video, it means it's not good enough. All of this data is tracked and sent back to their servers. It goes through a ton of calculations to determine what video is right for you. Then, it simply sends it back for you to continue watching. This was such an incredible algorithm that TikTok became the pinnacle of social media. Nearly every company was trying to get their hands on that algorithm. It became so bad, in fact, that TikTok started putting those "hey, you've been on the app for too long. Go outside, nerd" videos every ~30 minutes. That didn't stop anyone, though.
What about that is dangerous?
Going back to what we saw at the start of the article, the average teenager spends 3.5 hours on social media every single day. If we take out 8 hours for sleep and 8 hours for school, the average teenager spends nearly half of their free time every day scrolling through social media. These applications hold your attention and keep you captivated on what they're showing you. The most common way apps like Twitter (do you really want me to say "X"?) keep your attention is forcing "ragebait" down your throat. Every one of these apps have comments so that users can interact between each other. When it becomes controversial, though, those comment sections become battlegrounds. Everyone is fighting over what they believe is correct, when really, most of them have no education on the topic and shouldn't hold an opinion. In extreme situations, these comment sections ruin a person's ability to communicate with people properly and leave them feeling alone leading to possible mental health conditions.
There's another aspect that I consider dangerous as well, though; these comment sections commonly end up with political debates. In real life situations, this would be normal and, if done correctly, beneficial for both parties. This is in no way the same as in virtual spaces. If you're lucky, you're talking to a real person on the other end of the screen. It's likely, though, that's not the case. There were talks in the past about how other countries, such as Russia, skewed the vote one way through the use of these social media sites. For a democracy, it's extremely concerning that the vote can be influenced in that way.
"46% of adolescents aged 13-17 said social media makes them feel worse"
It's not just adolescents that are feeling this way, though. I'm sure you've felt it. I certainly used to when I was on social media. It's a constant rush of "it's the end of the world, you're all going to die." Everything is about how AI is taking jobs and that college isn't worth it anymore. There's wars happening non-stop. Privacy is being eradicated as we know it. There's a point where social media isn't helpful anymore. We reached that point over a decade ago. Why do we still go back to it every day?