The Algorithmic Aversion: What Turning Off Social Media’s AI Reveals About Our Addictions

The Australian government’s recent push for social media platforms to allow users to opt-out of algorithms has sparked a national debate about the role of artificial intelligence in shaping our online experiences. When users choose to “opt out” of an algorithm, they surrender control over their feed to the platform’s curated content.

I decided to take on this challenge myself by manually turning off my Instagram algorithm for 24 hours. I wanted to see if I could recapture the essence of pre-AI social media. My feeds were once filled with sepia-heavy pictures of trees, gigs, and friends – now replaced by carefully crafted ads and clickbait headlines.

Initially, I was skeptical that a simple toggle switch could restore the good old days of Instagram. But as I began to manually curate my feed, something unexpected happened: I started to feel bored. The endless scroll of posts from accounts I’d followed was suddenly truncated, leaving me staring at the “End of Following” message.

For a brief moment, I was transported back to 2012, when social media was still in its infancy and all my posts got eight likes and no comments. However, it wasn’t just nostalgia that had taken hold – it was also a creeping sense of emptiness. As I scrolled through my feed, now composed only of friends and family updating me about their lives, I realized that most people were using social media for self-promotion rather than genuine connection.

The proliferation of divisive content and the amplification of extremist ideologies are concerns that have led governments and experts to call for greater regulation. However, by opting out of algorithms, do we risk losing something essential to social media: its ability to connect us with others across geographical and cultural boundaries?

During my 24-hour experiment, I stumbled upon an unexpected solution: taking a break from social media altogether. As I read my book during lunch and looked around at the world outside my phone screen, I felt a sense of calm wash over me. Maybe the answer isn’t to tweak our algorithms but to redefine what we want from our online experiences.

The implications are far-reaching. In an era where social media has become an increasingly dominant force in shaping public discourse, do we really need to prioritize its addictive hooks over genuine human connection? By turning off our algorithms and opting out of the curated feed, we may just discover that there’s more to life than the constant stream of AI-generated content. And who knows – we might even find ourselves enjoying the quiet moments in between.