The motive behind Algorithms on Social Media

I mentioned blinders and algorithms in my last post and found this video from CBC kid's news and thought it made an interesting observation. It said that algorithms "might serve up stuff it predicts you're going to love" so you click like "Or it might clutter your feed with stuff you hate and try to provoke a reaction. Often the result is more extreme content gets circulated and people get angry. Ta da, your feed is full of augments instead of conversations."

That's actually quite profound. I realized algorithms fed you with content you like which creates a glass bubble so to speak about the world around you but I didn't consider it would throw things in you hate to provoke a reaction. That's actually quite sinister. It does further the divide by promoting extremism and toxic arguments instead of constructive dialogue. 

It supports my claim that they are promoting extremism to further the divide so people are distracted and don't see what they are really doing behind the scenes. It is very effective because this flat earther troll has become so extreme, I wont listen to a word he has to say. 

I think for me the critical test to moving forward is the ability to say there are some things the other party says that I do agree with. That doesn't mean you agree with everything they say. No two people are on every issue. Yet no two people disagree on every issue either. There's always common ground. 

Aaron Gunn's inability to say Trump's unprovoked war with Iran has caused the recent spike in gas prices is blind, toxic, dishonest and unhealthy. It makes me question everything he has to say. Yet I do agree with him about property rights.

So does that mean they are going to try and claim that if you agree with property rights you agree with killing civilians in Lebanon and Iran? It certainly doesn't but you can see how they are trying to groom us into thinking so. 

It's like during Covid I had a conversation with my older brother about lock downs and RNA vaccines. He was like that sounds like Donald Trump. No, it sounds like me. It sounds like a concern I have. If Trump is pimping those concerns to promote his own agenda, that doesn't mean I agree with everything he says just because I agree with something he once said but has since betrayed. 

It's like saying if you agree with one thing on the right, then you agree with everything on the far right. No it does not so stop claiming that it does. It's the same as claiming if you agree with one thing on the left, you agree with everything on the far left. No it does not. Stop saying that. It is not true. 

Social media is without question toxic. It's full of trolls and haters trying to rage bait people into unhealthy and unproductive arguments. Algorithms make it worse. Recognizing that is the first step to seeing past that so you can use your brain.