A few days ago I was really surprised that my girlfriend was unaware that Facebook controls which posts appear at the top of one’s feed. I explained to her that it strategically feeds us more of what we have engaged with—so to engage us more. This is in contrast to the “old days,” when one would see posts in the order that “friends” were posting them. Most social media and content companies continually update their algorithms to figure out how to keep us hooked and endlessly scrolling through posts.
Many analysts say that the majority of YouTube videos watched are discovered by the suggestions that YouTube gives each time one logs into it, or suggested after watching a video. The power of its algorithms hit home the other day when I was looking up something related to teen girls and sports. YouTube employed its “read my mind trick” and up popped all sorts of “recommended videos.” This was the first time I started scrolling down all their suggestion, and when I did, I was shocked at the sheer length of the scroll. I could keep scrolling practically forever. And, in fact, the algorithm was working because more than half of the videos piqued my curiosity. Not surprising since it was curated and informed by my past searches. Examples of things that were showing up: The Story of Nadia Comaneci (along with 5 other great looking gymnastic videos) Wayne Thiebaud the Painter videos, Priscilla Chan’s Three Billion Dollar Give Away and other important causes videos, exercise videos, and mounds of movie star stuff, which I don’t usually search but clearly YouTube knows that I might actually open the “How Emily Blunt met John Krasinski” video. Frankly, had I let myself, I could have spent several hours lost in frivolous curiosity.
I find it interesting that YouTube appears to give me so few recommendations for things I have looked up that are more work-related, more concentration dependent, like technical information on filmmaking. I wonder if this too is an algorithm...one that accounts for the fact that humans favor entertainment and relaxation over thought-challenging work-related links.
My husband has become a bit obsessed with the new book LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. The book, painstakingly researched by two academic defense experts over 5 years, describes how social media is being used by individuals, groups, and governments to influence opinions. The authors make the interesting point that much of the power of targeted messaging comes from within our own minds. They give these two powerful examples 1) Humans have an intrinsic desire to associate with like-minded individuals, and 2) Humans like to have their preconceptions confirmed. These traits underlie the psychology that results in our compulsion to keep clicking on the next suggested link.
I fear that algorithms are defining our children and forcing them deeper into silos. When they search for something that others, as well as themselves, have previously searched for, by default they are filtered into a category and served the same information that others who were looking for these same answers received. Those filters often go deeper than just keywords, they are algorithms that take into account factors like one's profile and other searches, and ultimately knitting together a group of people with similar interests and backgrounds.
I also want to be clear that I know there are many terrific consequences of algorithmic curating. Let's say your daughter likes building Balsa Wood models and she is searching for YouTube videos on the activity. Later other similar videos will appear on YouTube for her to see. That can be a good thing. But, with so many curiosity piquing videos how do you to stay on task? How do you ever unplug? Why would you ever get back to something less entertaining like writing that paper you were researching rather than going down the rabbit hole of distraction.
How do we remain conscious about what we are doing or watching when the videos and content suggested for us is done so with such personalized precision? The first step is to be aware of the endless scroll. Since that night when I felt the true abyss of the scroll, I have been more actively ignoring all videos displayed before me—especially the insane barrage of celebrity ones.
I am really excited to talk about all of this with my family tomorrow night--ie Tech Talk Tuesday.
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Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
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A few days ago I was really surprised that my girlfriend was unaware that Facebook controls which posts appear at the top of one’s feed. I explained to her that it strategically feeds us more of what we have engaged with—so to engage us more. This is in contrast to the “old days,” when one would see posts in the order that “friends” were posting them. Most social media and content companies continually update their algorithms to figure out how to keep us hooked and endlessly scrolling through posts.
Many analysts say that the majority of YouTube videos watched are discovered by the suggestions that YouTube gives each time one logs into it, or suggested after watching a video. The power of its algorithms hit home the other day when I was looking up something related to teen girls and sports. YouTube employed its “read my mind trick” and up popped all sorts of “recommended videos.” This was the first time I started scrolling down all their suggestion, and when I did, I was shocked at the sheer length of the scroll. I could keep scrolling practically forever. And, in fact, the algorithm was working because more than half of the videos piqued my curiosity. Not surprising since it was curated and informed by my past searches. Examples of things that were showing up: The Story of Nadia Comaneci (along with 5 other great looking gymnastic videos) Wayne Thiebaud the Painter videos, Priscilla Chan’s Three Billion Dollar Give Away and other important causes videos, exercise videos, and mounds of movie star stuff, which I don’t usually search but clearly YouTube knows that I might actually open the “How Emily Blunt met John Krasinski” video. Frankly, had I let myself, I could have spent several hours lost in frivolous curiosity.
I find it interesting that YouTube appears to give me so few recommendations for things I have looked up that are more work-related, more concentration dependent, like technical information on filmmaking. I wonder if this too is an algorithm...one that accounts for the fact that humans favor entertainment and relaxation over thought-challenging work-related links.
My husband has become a bit obsessed with the new book LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. The book, painstakingly researched by two academic defense experts over 5 years, describes how social media is being used by individuals, groups, and governments to influence opinions. The authors make the interesting point that much of the power of targeted messaging comes from within our own minds. They give these two powerful examples 1) Humans have an intrinsic desire to associate with like-minded individuals, and 2) Humans like to have their preconceptions confirmed. These traits underlie the psychology that results in our compulsion to keep clicking on the next suggested link.
I fear that algorithms are defining our children and forcing them deeper into silos. When they search for something that others, as well as themselves, have previously searched for, by default they are filtered into a category and served the same information that others who were looking for these same answers received. Those filters often go deeper than just keywords, they are algorithms that take into account factors like one's profile and other searches, and ultimately knitting together a group of people with similar interests and backgrounds.
I also want to be clear that I know there are many terrific consequences of algorithmic curating. Let's say your daughter likes building Balsa Wood models and she is searching for YouTube videos on the activity. Later other similar videos will appear on YouTube for her to see. That can be a good thing. But, with so many curiosity piquing videos how do you to stay on task? How do you ever unplug? Why would you ever get back to something less entertaining like writing that paper you were researching rather than going down the rabbit hole of distraction.
How do we remain conscious about what we are doing or watching when the videos and content suggested for us is done so with such personalized precision? The first step is to be aware of the endless scroll. Since that night when I felt the true abyss of the scroll, I have been more actively ignoring all videos displayed before me—especially the insane barrage of celebrity ones.
I am really excited to talk about all of this with my family tomorrow night--ie Tech Talk Tuesday.
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A few days ago I was really surprised that my girlfriend was unaware that Facebook controls which posts appear at the top of one’s feed. I explained to her that it strategically feeds us more of what we have engaged with—so to engage us more. This is in contrast to the “old days,” when one would see posts in the order that “friends” were posting them. Most social media and content companies continually update their algorithms to figure out how to keep us hooked and endlessly scrolling through posts.
Many analysts say that the majority of YouTube videos watched are discovered by the suggestions that YouTube gives each time one logs into it, or suggested after watching a video. The power of its algorithms hit home the other day when I was looking up something related to teen girls and sports. YouTube employed its “read my mind trick” and up popped all sorts of “recommended videos.” This was the first time I started scrolling down all their suggestion, and when I did, I was shocked at the sheer length of the scroll. I could keep scrolling practically forever. And, in fact, the algorithm was working because more than half of the videos piqued my curiosity. Not surprising since it was curated and informed by my past searches. Examples of things that were showing up: The Story of Nadia Comaneci (along with 5 other great looking gymnastic videos) Wayne Thiebaud the Painter videos, Priscilla Chan’s Three Billion Dollar Give Away and other important causes videos, exercise videos, and mounds of movie star stuff, which I don’t usually search but clearly YouTube knows that I might actually open the “How Emily Blunt met John Krasinski” video. Frankly, had I let myself, I could have spent several hours lost in frivolous curiosity.
I find it interesting that YouTube appears to give me so few recommendations for things I have looked up that are more work-related, more concentration dependent, like technical information on filmmaking. I wonder if this too is an algorithm...one that accounts for the fact that humans favor entertainment and relaxation over thought-challenging work-related links.
My husband has become a bit obsessed with the new book LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. The book, painstakingly researched by two academic defense experts over 5 years, describes how social media is being used by individuals, groups, and governments to influence opinions. The authors make the interesting point that much of the power of targeted messaging comes from within our own minds. They give these two powerful examples 1) Humans have an intrinsic desire to associate with like-minded individuals, and 2) Humans like to have their preconceptions confirmed. These traits underlie the psychology that results in our compulsion to keep clicking on the next suggested link.
I fear that algorithms are defining our children and forcing them deeper into silos. When they search for something that others, as well as themselves, have previously searched for, by default they are filtered into a category and served the same information that others who were looking for these same answers received. Those filters often go deeper than just keywords, they are algorithms that take into account factors like one's profile and other searches, and ultimately knitting together a group of people with similar interests and backgrounds.
I also want to be clear that I know there are many terrific consequences of algorithmic curating. Let's say your daughter likes building Balsa Wood models and she is searching for YouTube videos on the activity. Later other similar videos will appear on YouTube for her to see. That can be a good thing. But, with so many curiosity piquing videos how do you to stay on task? How do you ever unplug? Why would you ever get back to something less entertaining like writing that paper you were researching rather than going down the rabbit hole of distraction.
How do we remain conscious about what we are doing or watching when the videos and content suggested for us is done so with such personalized precision? The first step is to be aware of the endless scroll. Since that night when I felt the true abyss of the scroll, I have been more actively ignoring all videos displayed before me—especially the insane barrage of celebrity ones.
I am really excited to talk about all of this with my family tomorrow night--ie Tech Talk Tuesday.
Jared Cooney Horvath argues that the common defense of classroom technology — “there’s no definitive evidence of harm” — sets an unrealistic standard. Because ed tech evolves rapidly, product-specific causal trials are often impossible and ethically problematic. Instead, he points to converging evidence. In Utah, long-rising achievement scores reversed after digital tools became central in 2014, a pattern echoed in broader national and international data, raising concerns about large-scale tech adoption without clear evidence of benefit.
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Instagram’s new Teen Accounts are being promoted as safer for kids, but recent nationally representative data tells a more complicated story. This post invites families to take a research-based quiz together and have a calm, curiosity-driven conversation about what teens are actually experiencing on the platform — and what that means for trust, safety, and screen time.
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It feels like we’re finally hitting a tipping point. The harms from social media in young people’s lives have been building for far too long, and bold solutions can’t wait any longer. That’s why what just happened in Australia is extremely exciting. Their new nationwide move marks one of the biggest attempts yet to protect kids online. And as we released a new podcast episode yesterday featuring a mother who lost her 14-year-old son after a tragic connection made through social media, I couldn’t help but think: this is exactly the kind of real-world action families have been desperate for. In today’s blog, I share five key things to understand about what Australia is doing because it’s big, it’s controversial, and it might just spark global change.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
