The book you are reading or on your reading list, the news you engage with, the videos you watch, the music you listen to, and the TV shows you’ve watched. Were they really your choice? What if the things you believe you discovered on your own were carefully curated, selected, and suggested for you?
Let me break it down for you. Have you noticed how platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Netflix, Spotify, and many others feel personal to you when you use them? On TikTok, you press that like button, and then you start getting the same content, or the profile keeps on showing on your screen. When you are done watching a movie or show on Netflix, it recommends your next watch and places similar shows on your home page. I am sure you have noticed these patterns on the platforms I mentioned above, and many others. It is like this because these companies use a system called Algorithms. Algorithms create an illusion that tricks you into believing that these apps know you and can sense your mood, it makes them feel more personal and intimate.
Now, how do they do this, you may wonder. They achieve this through data collection, it keeps track of what you engage with most: the like button, the share button and the repost button you press are being tracked or recorded and used to recommend and suggest the same content. While this system might be seen as a tool that personalises and perhaps maximises the use of these platforms, it increasingly influences what people consume, discuss, and believe, making them active participants in social life.
Algorithms do not create new content; they take content that is already there and sell it back to you. Hence, we have features like ‘suggested for you’, ‘you may like this ’, and ‘playlist made for you ’, which make it feel like it’s all about ‘you’. Making you believe you should engage with this shapes what you consume, discuss, and believe, and you actively engage with this online community, whether aware or not. It also determines what gets more attention and what gets less, and what is visible and what is invisible, in simpler terms. The more people engage with certain topics or videos online, the more they are shown to the next person, and the process goes on. Let’s say there is a show that was released, someone watched it, came online, and left a review, and people go watch it, then come back and leave a review or opinion that is more or less like the first one. Because many people have engaged with that content, it will gain more visibility and finally convince someone to watch it. Now, was it your choice, or rather that person’s, to watch that show, or was it just promoted and pushed to their screen by algorithms?
Now, what are the social consequences of algorithmic decision-making? If you are scrolling and you see multiple people reviewing this book, dress, or any kind of product, chances are you might also be convinced to get those products. This also applies to the personalised adverts that are shown on TikTok, Facebook, Spotify, etc. I mean, if you constantly see that product on your screen, you might buy it. Not only does it influence our consumer behaviour it also affects our identity, might be through fashion, hairstyles, make-up, the way you talk and your lifestyle. Your fashion style might not be your sole choice; it might have been influenced by many factors. Algorithms affect one’s consumer behaviour and identity.
According to an article on the Sites at Penn State by Andrew Meristil, this selective exposure principle, where individuals consume information that supports their pre-existing beliefs, becomes more potent when algorithms show users content similar to what they’ve already liked or shared. “This cycle can strengthen biases and limit exposure to diverse perspectives” (Site at Penn State, 2025). Meristil also argued that this dynamic of algorithm use on the platform can polarise societies, intensify misinformation, and distort public debates. Hence, what we discuss and believe in is affected by these algorithms.
An algorithm is a system that creates an illusion, tricking you into believing these apps know you and can sense your mood; it makes them feel more personal and intimate. They increasingly influence what people consume, discuss, and believe, making them active participants in social life and shaping our identity. The question I posed at the beginning of this article still stands: Did you discover these things on your own or were they carefully curated, selected and suggested for you?