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Digital serendipity: who are we without our algorithms?
How to cope with the downfall of social media
Instagram was life. My 12-year-old self once lived life for the gram. After decades of growth, The New York Times reports social media apps are struggling to keep up. The crash of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram leaves us with a loud boom: is the age of social media ending?
Collectively, we’re fed up with feeling moody and obsessed. Our days start with doom scrolling down digital rabbit holes only to look up and realize it’s no longer daylight. We can’t escape the entangled influence of social media’s recommendation algorithms on our values, beliefs, and attitudes.
In a time of digital feeds and “For You” content, an introduction with my name and city does little to bridge strangers to friends. Each of us in our digital moodscapes wondering if we scrolled upon the same virtual lands. Let’s skip the icebreakers and flash each other our targeted ads.
What do we gain and risk by dancing with the recommendation algorithms?
Where are we?
Make Instagram, Instagram again!
Facebook and Instagram 1.0 had the intention to bring us closer to what we love. The emphasis was to maintain our existing interests and friendships. In June 2022, the movement “make Instagram, Instagram again,” famously backed by Kylie Jenner, chased the simpler days of picture posts shared in chronological order.
The decrescendo of agency, ethics, and choice leaves us bombarded by monetized content and the creator economy. Both of which are driven by mysterious data streams.
The emergence of alternative apps like Headspace, Gas, and BeReal attempts to satisfy our unfulfilled desires to be in control and to be real.
