Introduction
In today’s age, with increasing screentimes, brain fog and decreasing attention spans, people keep talking about quitting social media, doing a digital detox or simply unplugging from their devices to digitally cleanse themselves. The choice to be free from algorithmic magic is often met with the fear of discomfort experienced without the algorithmic scaffolding. We're moving towards an era where more and more people want to let go of the device dependency but are unable to see how these devices and various apps on it have curated a predictable life for us which will be difficult to leave. In this blog, we’ll explore how our need for freedom is met with macro level dependency, how social media algorithms trap us into staying and wanting more and what impact does it have on us.
Micro-Freedom vs Macro-Control
We’ve reached a point in our digital discourse where algorithms are portrayed to be offering micro-level freedoms ( letting users decide which post they would like to see more and vice versa). However, they still possess a macro level control on the kind of content we see in general ( our explore feeds). Considering the discrepancies and the hidden control, it places a comforting illusion in front of the users. The illusion of “I chose this,” even though the choice set was pre-filtered. Due to the eventual dependency, humans now crave manageable freedom rather than being given the entire choice to curate their social media feeds.
The Cognitive Load Problem
As a species, it’s evident now that humans hate mental labour, especially on social media apps that they have specifically opened to mentally “switch off”. So, algorithms take advantage of this fact and have subtly made apps a breeding ground for complete control and zero mental labour. However, they’ve done this smartly enough to keep very micro-level freedoms for the user so that it makes the user feel as if they’re the ones getting to decide what they would like to see. Thus the paradox emerges from an ancient instinct -conversation of mental labour. This has evolutionally permitted humans to preserve mental energy while allowing themselves to be controlled by subtle re-directions.
Predictability as a Safety Behaviour
People have started using algorithmic routines (For You pages, Spotify mixes, Google’s nudge architecture) as safety behaviours which have now become a way to avoid uncertainty, risk, or emotional overwhelm. It leaves us with enough randomness without a real risk or chaos. The structure isn’t just cognitive at this point. It’s covered in an illusion of uniqueness and unpredictability, where in reality it’s quite predictable. As we consume more of this structured regime for hours and hours of the day, we start expecting predictability and structure in our daily lives too, and that’s where the problem starts. Our daily lives and the people involved in it are not perfect or predictable. They aren’t a part of something we can perfectly curate and follow without any chaos. When we expect the world to match a similar structured pattern as our algorithms, what then follows is disappointment. And that disappointment is usually seen as frustration about the world not going as we wanted it to go. This often leads to a lower quality of life and a decrease in overall life satisfaction without even knowing what caused it.
So what can we do? Not escape algorithms- but dilute their dominance
The goal isn’t complete disconnection; it’s reclaiming small pockets of self-direction. A few quiet interventions help:
- Create “non-algorithmic spaces” in your day-A playlist you curate manually, a news source you choose deliberately, a hobby untouched by recommendation feeds. These micro-zones reopen your ability to self-navigate.
- Do one thing daily without digital prompts- Go for a walk without maps. Choose a restaurant without reviews. Make a decision without Googling it. These tiny acts retrain your tolerance for uncertainty.
- Notice when the algorithm is shaping your emotional state-If a feed is making you restless, anxious, or numb, pause. The moment you become aware of the influence, it weakens.
- Reintroduce friction strategically- Turn off autoplay. Disable “infinite scroll.” Add time limits. A little friction restores agency by making you choose again.
- Rotate your digital routines- Using the same apps in the same sequence creates identity loops. Shaking the pattern interrupts dependency.
These aren’t acts of rebellion, they’re acts of recalibration. We don’t need to reject soft control, but we can prevent it from becoming the only structure we rely on. In the end, the point isn’t to live algorithm-free, but algorithm-aware.
