The Greek God of Doomscrolling
Allgorithmis, in his lesser known and under appreciated Allegory of the App, said, and I quote:
“As the soul turns away from base images and idle chatter, so too does it cease to nourish them; for that which is not fed, withers. But when the soul seeks that which is noble, joyful, and true, it becomes as a wellspring—summoning more of its kind. Thus, what we attend to, we multiply.”
I know this because I recently travelled to Greece, so let me help explain what the Greek god of doomscrolling is getting at here.
As you explore the Internets on either your phone or your computer, if you click on and look at negative crap, you’re going be fed a lot more negative crap. However, if you click on and look at content that is positive and happy, positivity and happiness will fill your online experience – to the extent your online experience can deliver positivity and happiness in the first place.
It was during my recent trip that I decided to take this lesson to heart. With purpose and diligence, I’ve been working of late to turn the frown of my online life upside down.
There is no shortage of evidence showing the negative influence social media plays in our lives and on our mental health.
The Pew Research Center reported previously that 33 percent of teens said social media had a mostly negative effect on their mental health, and adults reported negative emotions such as anxiety, sadness, and hopelessness in response to divisive or harmful content.
Facebook’s own internal study revealed that 1 in 3 teen girls said Instagram made them feel worse about their bodies.
I don’t need any of these stats to know that when I scroll online and am constantly fed information and images that bum me out, I’m going to get down – and I don’t mean dancing.
Centuries after the time of Allgorithmis, ChatGPT explains that the algorithms in the context of the online content world “decide what you see online based on what you do, who you are, what others like you do, and what’s available — all ranked by how likely you are to engage.”
Very much like a shadowy figure on the wall of a cave, the online algorithms are the super complicated, very powerful, data crunching, online stalking, mathematical doohickeys that determine what stuff we see when we scroll, for good and for bad.
And I’ve had enough of the bad.
So, so long X, formerly Twitter. (What does the manual say about how long we have to keep saying “formerly Twitter,” anyway?)
So negative. So not the content I wanted filling my mind while sitting on a beach… or anywhere.
Step one: turn away from the base images and idle chatter. Done.
I removed the cursed app from my home screen and buried it deep on the third page of a folder labeled “News.” Yes, loosely defined, I know.
Step two in my odyssey to take control of the online content machines: click on more of the good stuff.
As quickly as it took me to remove X from my line of sight, I also made a concerted effort to search out content that made me laugh, learn and smile.
Comedians, click. Seinfeld clips, tab. Kettlebell exercises, yes. Soccer videos, the Chicago Cubs, grilled chicken recipes, those AI videos of famous movie scenes acted out by babies. And, seeing that I was sitting on a beautiful beach on the Greek island of Sifnos at the time, the Greek Isles, please.
Soon, my Insta feed was serving up smiles.
Old Al was right.
He knew our online world can be toxic – even before our online world existed! And, because we are human, we are often attracted to its toxicity, if only for a second.
Pause for a moment as you scroll past an ad or an article or a video and your device is listening and watching.
“We’ve got more of that. Here you go!”
I went on vacation to get away from the grind, both in reality and virtually. See new places. Relax in a beautiful place in a wonderful climate with my fun and enjoyable family.
I did all those things and also came away determined to take back my online feed.
I know what content makes me happy.
I know “my phone” is listening.
I know I need to be smarter about what I’m telling it.
I must click on the noble, joyful and true.
I, Allgorithmis!