Ever wondered why you keep scrolling through Instagram going from reel to reel with no end in sight? Or the one time you spent 3 hours on TikTok, knowing that you have a test or an assignment due tomorrow? Well, this is the Algorithm trapping you and the whole world, to keep you watching, scrolling, and stuck in its infinite loop.

Today we dig deeper into this problem, what it is, why it exists and why we are trapped.

What is an Algorithm?

In simple terms, an algorithm is a set of instructions to solve a problem. Although an algorithm may always be associated with computers and the internet, we use tons of algorithms ourselves. For example, when we are cooking a new dish, we find a recipe and follow its instructions and these instructions are nothing but an algorithm! Add 1 cup of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar…and so on are just a set of instructions to bake a cake or solve a problem.

Why are they used?

  

Algorithms are used to filter through a person's feed of data from a large amount of content available on a site or app. 

You see, when we watch YouTube or Facebook we wouldn't want our feed to be filled with random content but rather content curated to our preferences and interests. This is where an algorithm comes to play, it acts as a smart filter, placing content we like on our home page and removing others, almost acting as your personal assistant, except that you don't even need to tell what you like and what you don't.

How are Algorithms used on the internet?

Whether or not we like it, the content we watch on the internet is controlled by an Algorithm. Let's take a look at a simple example to understand.

Take Peter's case for instance. Peter loves to cook. When he uses Instagram or YouTube, he likes to watch cooking videos, where chefs showcase their culinary skills or videos of people from various parts of the world trying new food and delicacies. And he usually scrolls over other videos that aren't related to cooking.

 The algorithm catches this subtle act and uses it to its advantage, by placing many cooking videos in his feed and even so placing his most viewed creator's posts on the top of his home page, forcing him to keep watching and watching in a loop that never ends.

The Conclusion

So we are trapped. Trapped by something we made, nurtured, and are still teaching to grow. The longer we use apps, websites, or nearly anything on the internet for that matter, we are feeding the algorithm data, that it uses to trap us, into its infinite loop. 

So the next time someone asks you why you are on your phone for so long, just say that it was the Algorithms fault!

My Blog and me

Hey, am Steven a high school student who has orbited the sun about 16 times. And this is my blog, where I talk about the internet, technology, and the world around us along with a few of my adventures exploring it. I hope you like reading my content, as much as I love creating it!