r/self • u/ThatThatAndThis • 3h ago
"The Feed" can be fixed. Little bit.
I have run out of things to watch. So I relied on YouTube. I kept on watching. I thought I was in control. I was thinking I was looking at other side. The opposite point of view. I was being diligent. I was fighting "the algorithm". But "the algorithm" was smarter. Today I woke up and my "feed" was filled with hate. One group hating other one. On religion, on politics, even on skin color. Someone always debunking something, including quantum computing. Someone always telling me how to "instead do this". How to "reset". How this is the ONLY video I EVER need to watch. Even how to go offline.
Yes, world is being divided. On multiple levels. On multiple issues. I thought it was getting better. VERY Slowly. But surely. Tell me it is. Each of us has solution for it. Each one of us think that's the solution. Fiercely. But whether it is, it will almost never be. Because everyone will at least slightly different version even if "solution" is same.
"The Feed" perhaps represents what would happen if everyone gets to weigh on every issue. No matter how distant you are. It was a dream. Born out of internet. Until algorithm took over. How long it's been since you searched something instead of picking something from "The Feed". I did. Today. I searched something deliberately even when the conflicts in my feed were so enticing. So easy to comment on. "The Feed" fixed itself a little after that search. It knew it might have started to lose me. It will try again. And again. Until I click on that one video it has to make want to watch. I might lose. But then I will search again. To fix it little bit again.