YouAlberta
If you’re like me, you end up scrolling through your socials non-stop without even realizing it. It could be the memes that make me laugh until my belly hurts, or watching my favorite YouTubers non-stop, but time seems to fly when I’m having a great time on my devices. After reflecting, I can confidently say that I have developed an addiction to my screens and my algorithms have been feeding my addiction. Realizing that shaking this addiction will probably be close to impossible because I live in a world where technology will never be further away than my finger tips, I asked myself two questions: How can I reduce the amount of time I spend scrolling? How make the most out of my time? I came to the conclusion that if I could fix my algorithms, I could turn my addiction into an asset. Here are the four steps I used to fix my algorithms:
Learn What You Consume And Why You Consume It
When I hit follow, add, or subscribe, it was almost an instinct, and something I never really put any thought or reflection into. Scrolling through the platforms I followed for months or even years, I began to ask myself— why? Why did I want to consume that content in particular? What effect is it having on my life? I remember back in high school I followed a page that posted fights, and looking back at it now, it was a ridiculous instinct decision. I thoughtlessly supported a page that condoned and promoted violence, and it literally did nothing for me. Knowing what and why you consume what you do will trigger reflection and help you clean up your feeds.
Determine What You Want to Consume
I mentioned making the most out of my distractions and trying to find ways to turn that time into an asset. One way I did this was trying to become more intentional about which platforms I engage with and think about the reasons why it would be good for me to follow an account. One way I do this is think about how following an account will help me advance my goals. One area of interest for me personally is working in public policy. I did a quick YouTube search and found a YouTuber who takes the viewers through the day in a life of a policy analyst. They talk about how to make the most out of a degree to land the role, what the role is really like, and share insights on how to advance in the industry. I found watching the video to be more productive then scrolling away endlessly to things I wouldn't remember an hour later. Figuring out what it is that I want to consume has helped me be a little more productive, even in my down time.
Curate Your Feeds
After figuring out what I consume, why I consume it, and what I want to consume, it became time for me to make the changes. I designated time to unfollowing and unsubscribing from the things I found pointless and saw no value in, and began to search for content creators who could add value to my life. Specifically, I searched for career, financial, and spiritual platforms that share advice and insight so even when I am “relaxing” or “distracted,” I'm consuming content that might have a positive affect on my life. Going in and deliberately curating your feeds is a self-confrontational way to find out what kind of person you really are/were. I personally found that unattaching myself from some creators helped me escape my echo chamber and open my mind to new thoughts, ideas, possibilities and lifestyles.
Stay Conscious/ Rinse And Repeat
Just because I made changes once, doesn’t mean I won't encounter things that will undo the work. A part of the reason why I got to where I was in the first place was not being conscious about the media and content that I consumed. The only way to fix that moving forward is to continue to think about it. As silly as it sounds, I have to actively think about not following pages that I don’t want to engage with.You won’t make 100% of the changes over night. It probably took years for my algorithm to get to where it was and so it takes some time to undo. By continuously thinking about what it is you want and using what you consume as a means to the end, I strongly believe that you’ll be able to turn your algorithms around too.