The algorithmic tricks give people more of what they engage with, which is not really the same thing as giving them what they ask for. The problem is that this puts "this is neat, I like this" on an equal footing with "WHAT THE !@#$!@#$ IS THIS?!"
If I scroll through Facebook or X/Twitter, it's miles of ragebait. There's good stuff in there too, but why the hell is it showing me posts from Angry Conservative Mom and Being Liberal and other stuff like that? I don't want to see it, but either I engage before I can stop myself, or they at least think I will. Or I manage the willpower to stay off those platforms. Lots of people don't, and end up scrolling through an infinite stream of content designed and targeted to enrage them.
They're just propaganda firehoses. TV was too, but at least it had to be propaganda with extremely broad appeal. They couldn't select the propaganda best suited to getting engagement from you, personally, and then send it directly to you.
If I scroll through Facebook or X/Twitter, it's miles of ragebait. There's good stuff in there too, but why the hell is it showing me posts from Angry Conservative Mom and Being Liberal and other stuff like that? I don't want to see it, but either I engage before I can stop myself, or they at least think I will. Or I manage the willpower to stay off those platforms. Lots of people don't, and end up scrolling through an infinite stream of content designed and targeted to enrage them.
They're just propaganda firehoses. TV was too, but at least it had to be propaganda with extremely broad appeal. They couldn't select the propaganda best suited to getting engagement from you, personally, and then send it directly to you.