Internet algorithms and narcissism in today’s world
It’s no secret that social media companies like Meta, Twitter and ByteDance, Tiktok’s lesser-known parent company, use algorithms to keep their users glued to their screens. In this current context, algorithms refer to a set of complex maths written in code used to sort information on the internet. An algorithm in itself is neither bad nor good, but the problem lies in how they are being used by big tech. These profit-facing companies often end up creating a thriving environment for unhealthy narcissism to fester.
With plenty of social networks competing for the average person’s screen time, corporations often employ algorithms which is like a dumber A.I., sort to say, to feed their user content they’d love to see. They also connect their users to like-minded individuals and communities over the internet in the same way shepherds herd their sheep together. When you consider the fact that the internet is like an ocean of people and so much digital content, you’d thank algorithms for the work they do. But there are downsides to using algorithms in such a manner.
TikTok’s super algorithm which has brought it scrutiny in recent times was the reason the short video app became a sensation overnight. This is how it works — TikTok collects vast amounts of data from its user to build a profile with which the algorithm can use to predict what videos the person would have a bias for and show it to them. With this business model which is common to the social media industry, TikTok keeps feeding our sense of self-importance by exposing us solely to our worldview while simultaneously tucking away worldviews that contradict ours, and irk us. Some people call this phenomenon a filter bubble, but I prefer calling it the rabbit hole effect.
They might as well be in our minds at this point.
It might not seem like much, but this is exactly the reason why the world has been like it’s more polarised than it has ever been — that’s because it probably is. I first noticed this rabbit hole effect on Twitter where my feed kept on pushing mostly liberal-leaning opinions either arguing for the pro-choice side of the abortion debate or promoting LGBTQ rights. My Twitter feed discovered my biases through my like, tweet, and retweet patterns. It knew through my data what kind of tweets would engage me and keep me on the app long enough for me to view ads which keep the lights on at Twitter HQ.
Then again, whatever happened to “hearing what the other side has to say?” For a more balanced society, it is pretty obvious that there’s a need to expose people to just more than opinions they find favourable. But also, they are to be exposed to point-of-views that irk them, from which compromise can be reached, and progress be made. It’s no surprise that these days there are several extreme groups like QAnon and people like Andrew Tate peddling conspiracy theories which people easily buy into on the internet. God knows what treacherous rabbit holes of misinformation that people of the January 6 capitol riot in the United States were immersed in. That was a perfect real-life demonstration of what’s wrong with social media’s business of over-exploiting innate human biases.
Interestingly, whenever government regulators attempt to hold these tech companies liable for the pervasion of extreme content on their platforms, they always come up with the weak excuse that they use content moderators as a check against the spread of harmful content. But when you reason this defence thoroughly, you’d see how hollow it is. With the mindboggling amount of digital content out there on the internet, how many of these human digital content curators can, say Meta employ? As of 2017, Forbes reported that users spent 100 million hours on Facebook, daily. The sheer amount of workforce needed to babysit this long would slash the company’s huge profits that often run into hundreds of billions of dollars.
But the social media industry isn’t the only culprit; other internet-based services that employ algorithms like the movie and music streaming industries leave their consumers narrow-minded and self-absorbed all in the name of “personalisation.” Take Netflix for example, anyone that has a Netflix profile would tell you that their movie recommendations are tailored to their taste — that’s algorithms at work. The same applies to Spotify and its algorithm that attempts to figure out your unique music taste.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that mainstream culture has suddenly disappeared. There’s still a bubbling mainstream, but it’s being slowly eroded by algorithms which are designed to favour individualism. Less and less, people can agree on what songs sound good, what movies to watch together, or what policies to pursue as a society because, in the age of internet algorithms, every man is king.
