How did we get here? The butterfly effect and algorithm's impact on our lives

The butterfly effect is defined as the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. In simple terms, how one action leads to different results in the future. The biggest butterfly effect in my own life can be traced back to unknowingly sitting near someone in biology class. The next year in Spanish class, I didn’t know anyone, so I sat next to the only guy I knew, named Sam. One day, Sam would show me a video from a guy named Casey Neistat. This video resonated with me so strongly, the way he was able to tell stories in a video format, I thought, I want to do that too. This launched me into a period of creative discovery, leading to me buying my own camera equipment and becoming a photographer and videographer. Fast forwarding a bit I was accepted into the Kentucky Governor’s School of the Arts, and decided I wanted to pursue a career in the creative field. This was a massive change for me and set me on a completely different path than I was on previously, and that can all be traced back to something as coincidental as choosing my seat in a class. It begs the question; would I have ended up here anyway? Was this path always buried within me, and one way or another be eventually brought out? I like to think yes, I would have found my way eventually, but that timeline remains a mystery.

In the world today we are increasingly subject to algorithms in the content we consume. These algorithms are so good at what they do, so tapped into our human psychology that they reach out and grab our attention even when we don’t want it to. There’s a financial incentive for these companies to keep us on their app as long as possible. I think most of us can relate to scrolling on Tik Tok, and next thing you know an hour has passed. The thing about this is it doesn’t matter if the content is positive and enriching, most of the time it’s the exact opposite. They’ve discovered that anger keeps people on the site longer, feeding you stuff they know will make you mad or provoke a negative reaction from you. This is a huge reason why politics is so divisive nowadays; they know that negativity keeps you there.

I believe most of us want to live happy, fulfilling lives, and not spend our time being angry or annoyed at the things we see online. Have you ever been having a good day, and then you see something online that just shatters it? Until recently we’ve never had access to the number of posts, opinions, and news that we do now. Even trying to practice mindfulness in what we consume, these big companies are so good at what they do it can feel like fighting a losing battle.

This brings up the topic of rabbit holes, the act of diving so deep into something that by the end you don’t even know how you got there. Sometimes this can be positive, like exploring Wikipedia pages and learning new things. Often it’s extremely negative, like being rabbit holed into highly divisive political conspiracy theories. I think most of us can relate to knowing people on both sides of the political spectrum that have gone down the rabbit hole, derailing us so far from where we originally were.

Politics are so divided nowadays, and I believe most of the blame lies in the algorithms that seek to generate outrage. It doesn’t even matter if it’s true or not. I’ve seen countless posts of blatant misinformation that with 5 seconds of investigation turn out to be untrue. But it doesn’t matter, the damage is done, the anger has been generated, and the engagement has been earned.

This raises an ethical question for us as a society; should algorithms designed in this way be allowed to exist? The butterfly effect of normal people, who have been continuously flooded with propaganda designed to earn engagement through anger, to being arrested for storming the capitol.  What would those people have done otherwise if these platforms didn’t exist? Where does the blame lie? In the creators of the algorithm, the people sending the messages, or the receiver of the message? Is it even possible for us to resist the power these messages can have on us psychologically?

These algorithms almost act as unwanted intrusive thoughts in our brain that can feel impossible to resist and not think about. The rise of gambling advertisements makes me think of those who struggle with gambling addictions. What is it like to watch a football game, and be reminded every 5 minutes of the gambling opportunities, when for some people that can be a life ruining activity? What about alcoholics, who are exposed to constant advertisements for alcohol? Breaking an addiction is incredibly tough and the world we’ve built is full of negative reminders to people in a vulnerable state.

So, how did we get here? How did we get to a world that so often thrives on negativity? A world that constantly seeks to grab your attention away. And how do we resist that? This is something I struggle with myself, seeing a post that grabs my attention from what I was thinking of before, often to my detriment. It’s incredibly difficult sometimes to be mindful of what we consume, to take a deep breath and not let things affect us. But this is a battle we as individuals must fight against corporations with thousands of people trying to get us to do what they want. This butterfly effect can be extremely powerful, sometimes in positive ways, but unfortunately often negatively. I believe something like this should be reined in, that its psychological effects on society are too powerful. So often it feels like we are a victim of circumstance, a product of seemingly random actions like sitting next to someone in class. Unfortunately, these random actions are often not random, instead a calculated act by a corporation with an incentive to make profit at the cost of your quality of life.

Thanks for reading, Lucas Niemi