Algorithms create a dull conformity — off and online
Jan 9, 2025
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Best-selling author Kyle Chayka discusses how algorithmic feeds are reshaping our online and offline lives, fostering a dull conformity that erodes cultural diversity. Data scientist Gloria Mark shares insights from her research on declining attention spans, revealing how tech dominance impacts our cognitive abilities. They delve into the pressures on creators to conform to algorithmic standards, the shift from community-focused social media to influencer dominance, and the importance of mental breaks for enhancing productivity.
Algorithmic personalisation is homogenising our cultural consumption, diminishing individual creativity and unique artistic expression across digital platforms.
The alarming decline in attention spans from 2.5 minutes to just 47 seconds over two decades reveals profound implications for engagement with information.
Deep dives
Algorithmic Homogenization and Cultural Impact
Algorithmic personalisation is reshaping cultural consumption, leading to a homogenised digital experience. Users are frequently fed content tailored to their preferences by platforms like Netflix and TikTok, which, while convenient, restrict individual agency and creativity. This creates pressure on content creators, who often modify their work to meet the demands of popular algorithms, resulting in a landscape where creative expression is stifled. Consequently, the cultural richness becomes flattened as creators collectively conform to trends that algorithms promote, eroding uniqueness and diversity in artistic outputs.
Attention Span and Digital Distraction
Recent studies reveal a significant decline in attention spans over the past two decades, dropping from two and a half minutes in 2004 to just 47 seconds today. This trend is attributed to the design of the internet itself, which fosters distraction through linked information and rapid content switching. Increased online multitasking, combined with stress from constant shifts in focus, further degrades cognitive abilities. This alarming pattern has profound implications for how individuals engage with information and culture, suggesting a need for structured focus interventions to combat declining attention spans.
Navigating Peer Pressure and Content Creation
Creators now face intense pressure to conform to popular trends dictated by algorithms, impacting their authentic artistic expression. As platforms evolve, changes in algorithmic priorities, such as Instagram's shift from images to video, compel creators to alter their content strategies, often against their own preferences. This dynamic creates a cycle where the need to maintain visibility leads to a compromise in quality and individual expression. Future alternatives may emerge, focusing on community-driven dynamics and direct creator support, which could foster a healthier content creation environment.
Algorithmic feeds are meant to personalise our online experiences, but increasingly they're flattening our culture and fostering a dull conformity, according to best-selling author Kyle Chayka. And the influence they exert on our lives is increasingly physical not just digital. Also, data scientist Gloria Mark who has crunched the numbers on how our attention spans have fared over the past decade or so. If you can keep focused, you might find it fascinating.
Guests
Professor Gloria Mark – data scientist and psychologist, Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine
Kyle Chayka – author and contributing writer for The New Yorker
Further information
Gloria Mark - Attention Span: A Ground Breaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity
Kyle Chayka – Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture
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