Taming The Algorithm
I was two paragraphs into this angry reply. It was over some girl tweeting about how guys should always pay on a first date. She made some intelligent-sounding evolutionary arguments. I felt like it was my responsibility to debunk falsehoods in her logic. But I stopped myself before hitting the send button. I saw this person's timeline. Full of arguments and negativity. Is this what I want more in my life? I knew the algorithm was watching me. Ready to hijack my brain. I almost let it win.
Social media algorithms are designed by really smart people. People who spent years studying that lizard brain of yours. They are designed to keep you scrolling and engaged on the platform. So that they can serve you targeted ads. Your attention is valuable.
The purpose of the algorithm is to know you well and hook you. The only way to beat it is to know yourself better. Meditation and spending time with yourself are the best things you can do to achieve this. Meditation also helps put buffers between thought and reaction. You can catch yourself more often engaging in negative behavior.
You are human. Nothing is perfect. You will fall prey to the algorithm sometimes. More often at the beginning. But with practice, you will be able to tame it. Tell it more of what you want. And what you don't want. I am pretty harsh with this for my Twitter timeline. I constantly give the Twitter algorithm my feedback. Even unfollow aggressively if I dislike a tweet from someone or I think they are just posting frivolous content now.
If you know your mental bullshit the best, nothing can manipulate you.