I often find myself asking “how did we get here as a society?” and “why can’t people understand basic, shared facts about reality?!” Human behavior has always been a head-scratcher, I suppose, but in the past few years and then the last two months especially, I am overwhelmed by a sense of being befuddled by what seems to be a splintered perception of reality.
It turns out there is a reason—and it has been engineered to work that way.
Up until 40 years ago, people in our communities shared the same, relatively small number of information sources: daily hometown newspapers and nightly news broadcasts. They didn’t always tell us the news we wanted to hear in the way we wanted to hear it, but the professionals in charge deciphered the most urgent news of the day and we largely paid attention then shared ensuing discourse over meals, coffee, and water coolers.
Then came cable news which created a hunger for something we didn’t basically need: 24 hours of stories and hype and on-air commentary about the news. Then 15 years later came the internet and, for a while, it functioned like the microfiche at the library: there for the curious but largely not curated. But with the decline of traditional media consumption came the erosion of advertising dollars so those publishers and others decided clicks and views were the thing we needed to chase after.
And that, dear reader, has led us to where we are today.
Anytime you participate in any online content platform like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tiktok, etc., you are not just ambling through images, video, links, and text that you find interesting. What’s actually happening is that those platforms algorithms are processing your online behaviors—historically and in realtime—and feeding you content designed to keep you on as long as possible by showing you more and more of things like you have already seen.
So, instead of the balanced media meals served up to us by the traditional media cooks, we’re now largely on a diet of just a few snacks; like giving a child only Hot Cheetos. The sad reality of social media and most content-based online platform is that we are not so much the consumer as the product. The publishers make money selling access to our eyeballs based on our demographic attributes and our behaviors. As such, the platforms where we spend the lion’s share of our time are engineered not for our optimal experience or for learning/discovering information in any sort of holistic or fact-based way. In fact, they are designed to send us down rabbit holes—biased echo chambers created not merely by our friend groups, but by the programmers that have mandates to show us information that confirms our world view, sending us deeper and deeper into the extreme reaches of our own ideologies.
If that sounds far fetched, I recommend doing some reading on the topic and for the sake of balance, ethical journalism, and fact-based vetting of sources, get off of YouTube and stick with research papers from old-school universities or legacy media outlets that have been around 75+ years. One of the most digestible works of analysis I have come across recently is the New York Times series “Rabbit Hole” as part of their podcast The Daily.
The series looks at one platform in particular—YouTube—and focuses on a young man that was radicalized by falling into the video content abyss as guided by recommendations served up to him. The reporters look at his browser history and they also talk to YouTube’s CEO and former programmers. It is a sobering and enlightening journey into the minds of an overwhelming number of Americans who get their information and base their world view not on the newspaper or even broadcast media that suits their fancy, but rather videos by self-proclaimed experts talking in an authoritative way to get more subscribers and views, to prop up their own personal livelihood.
There is no accountability, no fact-checking, no editor or producer holding them to a higher ethical standard or to… you know… facts. And there is certainly no demand to give any manner of perspective. That doesn’t seem like a healthy or fruitful way for anyone to get their information, but it certainly explains why some people believe in fact-based journalism and science while others are so convinced in things like the “Plandemic” or the evil 5G towers, etc. Get into any kind of online debate with someone about an unhinged-theory and they are bound to point to YouTube videos or some nutty sounding URL for “proof”.
When I started this blog 10 years ago, I named it “The Off Switch” because the devices in my life seemed to be always on in a way that had become intrusive. I was seeking ways to adjust the software settings and the hardware itself in a way that worked for me rather than the other way around. This “Rabbit Hole” series has reminded me of something really important that I hope you will take a few minutes to examine as well: your default settings. I mean that figuratively and literally.
Have a look at your auto-pilot ways of engaging with your devices and the platforms on them to ensure you aren’t just slipping into a passive role. Also, take a little time regularly to look at and adjust your settings. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and your browser of choice all come with default settings that are favorable to them and their advertisers. Out of the box, they track what you’re doing so they can spoon-feed you what you’re seeing. Turn off auto-play. Turn off suggested and recommended content. Turn off ad-trackers. Turn off as much as possible so that you aren’t sucked down the rabbit hole of bias and insular thinking.
If you do, this is what I predict will happen: you will see more content that you disagree with from people and publishers you don’t normally see. You will be more engaged with what you are searching for rather then just what you are being served. And you will start thinking more critically about the information and the platforms themselves. Instead of channel surfing, you will start using them as tools.
And your brain and the world will be better for it.
Advanced settings:
- Facebook: Hide all posts from publishers that seemed inherently biased or agenda-driven like off-brand URLs (hint: anything with a political party or color in the name)
- Twitter: Block the aggressive trolls and unfollow biased media accounts
- Unfollow people that push meme and video based information not based in fact because, whether you like it or not, they are influencing your perceptions
- Follow the Associated Press, the CDC, World Health Organizations and local public health accounts for a baseline of facts
- Don’t watch YouTube or national TV news for news or learning. That stuff is entertainment. And certainly don’t share off-brand/conspiracy content as “facts”
- Not so much a setting as a suggestion to stem the tide of disinformation: subscribe to your local newspaper and a national, name-brand newspaper today. And if you have someone in your life that consumes no actual news reported by actual journalists, buy them a gift subscription to a weekly paper delivered to their house.