Want to Reclaim Your Attention? Establish a Ritual

"These 'decision rules' filter information to offer the convenience of fewer choices, faster results, and less effort. The trouble is that we often relate to them as though they're serving our interests, when in fact they're optimizing for engagement and revenue—metrics that don't necessarily align with human care or shared well-being."

"Personalized feeds can fracture our shared reality. When different people see fundamentally different information streams, it becomes harder to establish common norms, to build trust, and to maintain the social fabric that holds communities together."

"Belonging depends on shared attention over time. It requires that we notice the same things, care about the same things, and build understanding through sustained interaction. Private, individualized streams work against this."

Social media algorithms function as decision rules designed to maximize engagement and revenue by predicting what content keeps users watching, clicking, and sharing. While tech companies like Meta attempt to humanize algorithms through features like "Dear Algo," these efforts address symptoms rather than root causes. Personalized feeds fragment shared attention and common reality, weakening social trust and norms. Belonging requires sustained shared attention over time, not individualized information streams. Platform modifications alone cannot solve the fundamental problem because algorithms serve corporate interests, not human flourishing. The deeper issue concerns what these systems do to collective attention and social cohesion.

Read at Psychology Today