What We Surround Ourselves With

When we surround ourselves with falsehoods, they begin to look like the truth.
- @connorjrobbins

I was having a good day—and then I picked up my phone.

After only five minutes of scrolling, my day had taken a negative turn.

I had been bombarded by awful news articles, read some hot takes that made me question the sanity of the average person, and listened to a doom-ridden rant about the hopelessness of it all.

Eventually, I was able to pull my attention away from this endless horror show, but the damage was done.

These bits of information leaped from the screen of my phone and lodged themselves like splinters into my brain—unwelcome, piercing thoughts. Thoughts that would only become dislodged with patience, attention, tweezers, and a magnifying glass.

Thoughts that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

I’m sure this will sound familiar to many of you. At this point, most people will have experienced the negative influence of social media.

But to make matters worse, I knew better.

Social media has burned me in the past, and I have learned from my mistakes. Over time I’ve curated my feeds, learning to be very deliberate with my follows and very liberal with my un-follows, choosing to disable algorithmic feeds where possible, opting for simple chronological content.

In short, I’ve made sure that when I scroll, I come away feeling better and maybe even having learned something.

But then, how was it possible I had such a negative experience?

I ditched my curated feed.

Every social media app has an alternative to your curated feed. Sometimes it’s called “Front Page” other times it’s called “What’s Trending.” But it’s always a bad idea.

I felt I had a good reason for checking out this Front Page, I wanted to see what was going on in the world. I figured, what’s a better way to put my finger on the pulse than to see what’s trending?

But what’s trending isn’t what’s going on in the world. The Front Page doesn’t represent a random sampling of reality, it represents what people are most engaged with. And people are easily fooled by negativity. (Note: This is without even mentioning how easily these listings can be manipulated.)

Those few truly awful news articles don’t accurately represent the world, they are the articles that most accurately reflect the beliefs of the majority of users on the site. Those hot takes don’t represent the average person, they represent whatever is most controversial, misunderstood, or new. The doom-ridden rant about the hopelessness of it all isn’t necessarily accurate, and by listening to it you’re forcing your brain to reflect those ideas onto itself.

It’s easy to fool ourselves into thinking that this Front Page represents the pulse of the world. It does not. But if we believe it does, and we read it with this belief in mind, there is a real danger:

If you’re not careful, the ideas you consume can feel like conclusions you’ve come to yourself.

And if you don’t examine them carefully enough you may find they worm their way into your understanding of the world without your permission. Suddenly your perception will be tinted by lenses you never meant to use.

I’ve now promised myself to stop checking the Front Page. If something noteworthy is happening, I’m sure I’ll hear about it. If I want more information on a particular topic, I’ll seek it out.

Perhaps you’ll join me in stepping away from the Front Page, and focusing on ideas that better ourselves. I’m sure it’ll do us both a lot of good.

Social media is like a garden, you decided to tend to it for a reason, but if you lose focus it can quickly be overwhelmed with weeds. Make sure the flowers you’ve planted are still to your taste and don’t be afraid to uproot them if they no longer are. Be vigilant, and weed as needed. Next time your scrolling, listen to your gut and curate as necessary.

Finally, make sure that you put out into the world what you would like to receive.

2021-08-21