"Use Google! Look up the facts!"

Okay, sure. But all these systems are connected, Google has you too. When you do a Google search it knows what you have been looking at and it just reinforces what you are beginning to believe.

You don't get the other story any more.

All of your information is derived from the algorithm telling you what the algorithm thinks you want to read, see, hear, etc.

It slow cooks your brain into a world of belief and you don't know it's happening.
3/x

By the time other people begin to confront you for what you've been conditioned to belief, you are shocked that they would be against all of this stuff that, in your world, is everything.

It makes you angry. It makes them angry.

You get pulled deeper into the brainwash. Sure, there's some bad things happening, but what's happening "on the other side" is far worse. So, it doesn't matter.

The algorithm makes your reality.

4/x

And by this time, it's okay to throw hatred at the other people.

Because the other people are doing horrible wretched things that everything around you, from every source, tells you is true.

It will split you from friends, from family, from everybody who doesn't think like you do.

And the scariest part of all this, it isn't even human controlled or directed. It's an algorithm doing what it does, given one task, to get more clicks and engage people. It doesn't care. It doesn't know.

5/x

@quinnsentialOne

Nicely done.

It’s the propagandizing of social media and radicalizing through propaganda the people who can’t see through it.

And of course, it’s all for the profits.

@quinnsentialOne
This is also what happened to Dylan Roof. Google's algorithm led to racial violence: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/10/508363607/what-happened-when-dylann-roof-asked-google-for-information-about-race

@promibro Radicalization is powerful.

I learned as much as I could about it after my own experience.

Looking at my past self now, I find it hard to come to terms with "that was actually me".
There is a bit of cognitive dissonance there, and that too, is something for me to own and learn to deal with.

@quinnsentialOne
I appreciate that you can share your story. It helps me understand that real people can get caught up in lies - when they are repeated and reinforced. It's cultivation theory in action.

@promibro We definitely have to fight against the extremism, politically.

But at the same time, at least for me, I don't want to abandon the people who are just lost in the loop or out of touch and don't even know.

I've done so much "othering" when I was a hard right Republican, and especially MAGA, that I don't want to have gotten outside of that..... just to do it again in another direction for a different reason.

@quinnsentialOne
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
This is one reason I rarely use Google Search or have social media accounts, other than here.

@heyrhiannon Me too. And I will try to stay aware of what happens here too, and what content I'm seeing.

@quinnsentialOne This is true. I went through it myself, but in different circumstances. Since I woke up, and got out of the hold, I no longer worry about what algorithms try to convince me of, because I simply live by the adage, "Believe none of what you read, or hear, and only half of what you see with your own eyes!" I also learned to trust my gut more. If something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't.

@quinnsentialOne

The best thing to do to is to turn off tracking and also to use a browser that doesn't track you. I use brave browser and have all my Google accounts set to 'do not track' (along with other measures).

There are ways around not being in an echo chamber, but most people don't bother with it, don't know about it, or enjoy the convenience.

I wonder if that's why so many old people get stuck in the algorithm dance? They're less technologically inclined...

@ExecutiveFunction404 Yes.

I had a friend who I met while traveling who helped me with this immensely a few years ago.

He taught me the things to keep safe while traveling are the same things you should do day to day.

I'm not technic smart, but I have a check list given to me by people who are better than me. 😅

I stay away from Apple and Google, especially.

I know can't escape it all entirely. But I can clean up my own backyard and stay out of the mud.

@quinnsentialOne

It's terrible that tracking is the default. It should be the opposite, but then the companies don't get their user info.

Having musk buy Twitter and all the user data it has amassed over the years should make more people aware of where their info can wind up.

The EU is making strides protecting user data, but the US is too in bed with corporations (especially now that citizens united is running free) to do anything about it.

@Lawless Thank you. 🤗

@UmbaSaffire At the very least of it, I think algorithm-directed content should have a huge warning label on it.

Like the poison symbol on bleach. 😂

@quinnsentialOne Perfect LOL😂

@WendyForbes You're welcome.

They might not be listening right now, but when and if the cracks in the bubble appear, or they have questions they are not asking loudly.

It is so much better for you to be there for them than someone else who will just keep on the dark path.

@quinnsentialOne
🧵
She believes Putin, Biden and Trump are all dead and that they are being portrayed by masked impersonators. She believes the war in Ukraine is about destroying underground infrastructure used to traffic children for use by this nefarious cabal. She sends me random YouTubes and articles that feed this delusion. I always respond with love and respect. I ask her to check her sources and point out why they aren’t trustworthy. 2/4

@quinnsentialOne
🧵
I remind her that I have worked in climate change advocacy since the mid-90s and everything that’s happening now was predicted then. It’s just physics and chemistry. She loves and trusts me so I always see a flicker of truth-recognition when we talk. But it’s just a flicker. It’s gotten to where we don’t venture to those topics anymore… politics, environment, public health… 3/4

@quinnsentialOne
🧵 She visited me from Aus last summer. And, one day at the beach, w/shore break at out feet she asked about life. I told her the last 3 years have taught me a lot about unconditional love. She looked me in the eye, asked if I love her unconditionally. I said “YES. Always.” Then we hugged, both of us w/tears.

This is what algorithm-driven SM has done. We have to be resilient warriors of unconditional love to have a chance at overcoming it.

Thanks for letting me share. 4/4

@TiarePalau Thank you for sharing this. ❤️

I hope, someday, she comes finds her way out of that bubble.

It's good for her to have someone like you, who keeps trying.

@quinnsentialOne
Thank you. 🙏🏽💕… I hope she does too… and I won’t stop trying. 🌺