Filterworld: Algorithm cleanse §

Metadata §

• Author: Kyle Chayka
• Full Title: Filterworld: Algorithm cleanse
• Category:#articles
• Date read: 2022-09-13
• URL: https://kylechayka.substack.com/p/filterworld-algorithm-cleanse

Key takeaways §

• Social media provides instant relief from discomfort so when you don’t have the apps on your phone anymore you have more downtime.
  • “…constant use of the Internet could turn one into a quick responder, an attendant who receives information and instantly demands more.” - Is internet addiction eradicating the habit of reading

---

Highlights §

• My iPhone became instantly more boring.
• I’m blissfully unaware of just how many people are vacationing at Lake Como this weekend.
• Call it an algorithm cleanse or an algorithm detox — I wanted to see what my digital life would be like without those familiar, addictive feeds. It also felt like a detox: For the first few days, I was extremely cranky as my brain grasped for the missing stimulus of content bombardment, the thousands of tiny fragments of thought that I exposed myself to in every spare moment. I was experiencing content withdrawal.
• It hasn’t been that long, but I’ve noticed some salutary effects. I don’t reach for my phone as quickly in moments of downtime (or while walking up stairs lol) and I’m much more likely to pick up a book and read a few pages.
• that most online media today isn’t actually designed to function without the added pillar of algorithmic feeds funneling content around to target audiences.