Algorithmic Complacency and Me

I watched Technology Connections’ recent video about what he is terming ‘algorithmic complacency’ and was so glad to hear my own ‘old man yells at cloud’ feelings reflected back at me, though interestingly for different and less myopic reasons. The thesis of the video: based partially on data and partially on observation and extrapolation, Alec Watson (aka Technology Connections) has found that we are allowing algorithms and automated systems dictate the processes we live by and what we consume. This means, in turn, we are letting companies decide what is the information we need to know and the news we need to follow – and, implicitly, our opinions.

There is some historical precedent to this. As information democratises, people find they can make money making it easier to digest, whether in encyclopaedias or Google’s AI digest. I can wholeheartedly echo Watson’s sentiment that there is nothing wrong with finding out cool stuff – whether it’s falling into a Wikipedia hole or being inspired by the day’s obituaries to find out about some interesting aspect of the world you never knew about before, there is a wealth of information out there, and it’s fun to engage with something without needing to learn every last thing about it. What is core, though, is not to simply be satisfied with the information presented unto you easily: whether it’s simply clicking on somebody’s profile to gain context before arguing with them (Watson’s example) or engaging with somebody who inspired something you love (mine), there is so much more to the information we come across than what is presented to us. We live in an age where even balance and perspective-seeking has been algorithmically optimised: apps like Ground News exist to make even the most sceptical and intellectually curious of us lazy, and when even our controversy and morality is fed to us via news feed, perhaps it’s time to question how and why.

The idea of ‘algorithmic complacency’ is just one aspect of how we are rewiring our brains using technology. One thing I am guilty of is leaving nonsense content talking (very close to all the time, we don’t need to talk about how much of my time is spent listening to other people’s voices), using music as ambient noise when it has the power to be a fully occupied moment in and of itself, playing video games whilst the TV is on; I surround myself with a cacophony of things, and I wonder why my attention span is appalling or my mood is always at least two contradictory things simultaneously. With access to infinite content, all of which finds a way to be shovelled to us via algorithm, how am I choosing what I’m doing? How am I engaging with what I’m doing? Am I even enjoying myself doing the things I love?

A fun fact that may not seem immediately relevant: I am a top playlist creator on Spotify. I create and use more playlists than the average Spotify listener… because I detest letting an algorithm choose what I like. Music, to me, is such a powerful and valuable thing that I won’t hand it over to the machine. Even when listening to an artist’s catalogue I use a playlist which I created to determine my listening order, because I don’t want simple album chronology to be the thing that dictates the movement between moods. I think that’s the kind of usage I’m trying to advocate: when discovering a new artist or genre, I might search them up and listen to the auto-generated playlist; I won’t, however, be letting the algorithm tell me my favourite things based on the most popular or promoted items in its feed. May we all be free to discover, but inclined to assert discovery as a tool.

On This Topic: 

• Combat ‘algorithmic complacency’ by having your own unusual keyword you engage with – mine is ‘Through A Glass, Darkly.’ If I come across a book or film that uses this as the title I snatch it up and read it (or watch it, or listen to it, or do whatever engagement is requested by the artefact) without reading the blurb. I’ve had some strange experiences from this, and also discovered one of my favourite authors that way. It moves me out of my comfort zone and encourages all the same things that a ‘blind date with a book’ would, whilst also being personally curated and unique and not really of widespread interest. Try to think of something esoteric yet common enough to be used as your own personal keyword.
• Further remove yourself from ‘algorithmic complacency’ with long reads and scripted content. My personal feeling is that if something takes time and energy to produce, and you need to spend time and energy consuming it, then it engages your brain in an entirely different way. Try lying on the floor in the dark to listen to an album in full, the way we used to, or turn off the endless nonsense rabbiting on in favour of something else. Video essayists talk about how long it takes to create a well-researched and entertaining factual piece, but there is a mid-point – something like ‘In Our Time‘ or ‘The New Yorker Radio Hour‘ which is researched but not scripted.
• The best way, however, to defeat ‘algorithmic complacency’, and the only way to do so permanently, is by logging off. It’s hard to break the habit of a lifetime as a lurker on social media, but my lord have I been happier since I stopped looking at it.

To-Do: 

• Sort WBD costume
• Collect parcels from downstairs
• Work out how to arrest the overwhelming bulge of my wardrobe that is currently taking over my living space. Probably by throwing some things away, but maybe just by tidying.

Today’s Culture: 

• For once I have the feeling that an audiobook may be a better experience than reading… listening to Mr Loverman by Bernadine Evaristo read by somebody with a better Antiguan accent than the one in my head is definitely helping, and the book is so excellent it doesn’t really require help.
• Visiting a beautiful tea store in Lisbon means we got some gorgeous Pu Ehr as a souvenir and I can’t wait to drink it.
• Making a commonplace book with my Late Romantic vibes and inspirations. I read about it in A Discovery of Witches and have been contemplating it ever since, but after watching too much JetPens content I’ve been encouraged to give it a try.