Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to The Silent Page!
Today’s article may be the most serious that I’ve written thus far and is based off of some observations and conversations I’ve had over the last couple years. Specifically, on the topic of why our collective social lives seem to be so dysfunctional. It’s a topic I’ve seen a lot of people debate about in various forums but here’s my two cents.
The root cause is the algorithmic media you’re consuming.
That’s the answer. Now let me explain my analysis.
Have you ever noticed how easily categorizable most people are these days? Have you ever had the experience of meeting someone and immediately knowing almost everything about them because you’ve seen people like them online before? How many aesthetic groups can you name and how many people have you met that fit them (or are aspiring to fit them!) to a T? This has been a very common experience for me, and it has made an entire generation of people feel flat. There’s no depth anymore! This is an unfortunate symptom of people spending their formative years watching algorithmically curated content. Think about it, when your personality was still malleable you were being conditioned by an algorithm to be a certain way and now that you’re older your opinions, thoughts, likes and dislikes, and personal aesthetic were all influenced heavily by those autonomous systems. This is why people feel so shallow now, because instead of having unique experiences as they grew up, they were carefully spoon-fed by a computer.
I know that I, personally, spend a lot of time reliving what life was like before I had access to these systems. YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, etc etc. How many people do you know are living stereotypes? Do you remember how people were before about 2015/16 when these algorithms came into their own? I remember.
A couple days ago I decided to do an exploration to see if things really have changed all that much in the era of the algorithm (or if it was just my imagination) so I went back to old school writing blogs, travel YouTube channels, and even old personal sites to see what changed. The strange thing I found? You can see the changes happen in real time. You can see people’s writing blogs go from barely political and very unique to highly polarized and polemical over the course of a few short years routinely. Why are people all-of-a-sudden so polarized? The answer is the algorithms.
I highly recommend you try your best to remember what it was like before technology changed the world in ways few have put to paper. Remember what life was like before people were sorted into just a handful of aesthetics by algorithms. See if people in your life remember what it felt like before this. Even more importantly, consider what must be happening to the Generation Alpha kids who don’t remember a time before a smartphone! We may be the last generation (the older half of Gen Z) who recall a time where people weren’t mostly socialized through online platforms.
That’s a lot of gloom, so let’s talk about what we can do to regain our organic thoughts, feelings, and lifestyles. Obviously, there are a lot of possible routes but here are some pointers that are helping me to rehabilitate myself away from a screen.
The first thing you need to do is figure out what kinds of things you organically believe. This is a hard thing depending on your level of introspection but I’m sure that if you think about the things that you were interested in and motivated you before you ever got “plugged in” then you’ll have a few examples. The next thing to do is drastically cut down on the amount of time you spend scrolling. You need to start regaining your focus and mental clarity and the noise that infinite scrolling imparts into your brain is antithetical to this. Cut it out. Read a physical book, go for a walk, meet up with friends, check out an event in your city, go hiking, do something real! For me, I’m writing this article. Just pick something!
Now for the hard part, how do I rebuild an organic social life with people who feel real? Unfortunately, these people – in my experience – are hard to find. I don’t have a lot of advice for this one because I’m actively working on this myself. Family members are a good start; coworkers could be another place to find a few. Try joining meetup groups in your area, see if you can find people who aren’t always online and make friends with them! Unfortunately, we don’t have the benefit of living in a time where our generation is particularly social. Us who are trying to unplug are very much so a minority. The good news? It only takes finding one or two more of these people to have some friends! I exist and so do you, dear reader, and that gives me hope!
It’s never too late to step off the path. Yes, you’ll probably always have mental scars from growing up plugged into these platforms but it's better to have a few scars than open wounds! As C.S. Lewis once said “We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right road.” and this is exactly what we need to do. We all still have lots of life left to live! It’s never too late to reclaim it!
I think that about summarizes my thoughts for this post. Hopefully you found some part of it inspiring and maybe, just maybe, you’ll find yourself on an organic path like you once were! Before we part, do something today to start finding yourself again! Even if it's just reading a book for thirty minutes instead of spending that time on your phone. Every bit counts!
Silent Partner
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