A reflection on how digital recommendations shape our identity, highlighting the importance of conscious choices to maintain control over our interests and who we become online.
One of my mother’s favorite phrases was “tell me who you’re dating and I’ll tell you who you are”, a daily warning in a traditional family in São Paulo to guide the steps and avoid possible weaknesses of a young girl discovering the world. Today the mantra would be “tell me who you follow, who you like or simply who you spend more than a second looking at on social media and the algorithm will tell you who you are”. I’m at war with my algorithm and I know my mother would be horrified to see her advice on the subject TO THE Do you think I’d like to watch? The truth is that I had even begun to believe that “she”, the artificial intelligence who listens to everything I say and notices my attention within seconds wherever I leave my digital trail, knew more about what attracted me than myself. I wondered who was really hiding behind the apparent coherence of a “serious”, committed, professional and married woman. Either the AI was mistaking me for someone else, or my hidden layers were being unnecessarily exposed.
For a while, I was chased by cute kittens, the cutest Japanese children, and boring jokes that made me laugh slightly. Everything changed in a few weeks where, without noticing any apparent change in my behavior, I found myself dealing with the most disparate topics that at first seemed outside my area of interest. From “why housewives are happier than women who work outside the home”, to Jennifer Lopez’s marital problems, up to the sexual desires of those who practice polyamory, it was a “leap”, letting me guide you through posts that I wouldn’t have had the courage courage to read it. show it to my best friend. This week I had enough and already full of complaints, I remembered a text I wrote myself about being guided by Waze instead of using Waze as a source of information, but keeping control in my direction.
I know, and after this experience even more so, that without awareness and a careful eye I can let myself be carried away by the turbulent sea of the internet. What I now know with more certainty is who I have chosen to be, what interests I have chosen to dedicate myself to, and that I do not want to relegate my decisions to an accelerated algorithm. After this immersive experience in other worlds I realized that the more content options available, the higher levels of decisions I will have to make. I don’t want to avoid, like when I was a girl, “bad company” which isn’t actually bad, but I want to choose what I like, what to see and based on my interests who I will become over the years. The time I spend feeding myself or not the topics that shape me will be meticulously supervised and that takes work and time, I know. But letting myself go ad eternum in this cycle of pseudo content certainly takes even more time.
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
