The opinion I thought was mine
How the algorithm became the author of my opinions
I’ve noticed something weird about myself recently.
I’ll be in a conversation, confidently sharing my take on something.. ancient civilisations, some conspiracy theory, whatever.. and I’ll catch myself mid-sentence thinking “wait, where did I actually get this from?”
And the answer, honestly, is usually a 2-minute clip I saw three weeks ago. Or a podcast I half-listened to while making dinner. Or a post that got pushed to me because I’d lingered on something similar before.
I haven’t done the research. I haven’t read the counter-arguments. I haven’t sat with the idea and poked holes in it. I’ve just heard a thing and repeated it.. like a parrot with access to the internet and whatever it shows me.. squark squark..
Which raises a question I’m not sure I like - “is that my opinion? Or is it the opinion the algorithm decided to give me?”
I find ancient history genuinely fascinating. The unexplained stuff, the theories about lost civilisations, the questions about what we might have got wrong. I could talk about it for hours.
But if I’m honest.. I probably couldn’t defend any of it in a real debate with real substantial details. I don’t actually know all the ‘details’, I only knows those said in reels/podcasts/shorts/carousels.. I couldn’t cite sources (unless social media counts?). I just know the vibes. The headlines. The hook that made me stop scrolling for 90 seconds before the next thing grabbed me.
And yet somehow that’s enough for me to go around repeating it like I’ve “done my own research.”
I haven’t. I’ve done the algorithm’s ‘research’. Which is really just whatever kept me watching longest..
There’s a difference between forming a view and having one installed.
Forming a view takes effort. You read things that challenge you. You sit with discomfort. You change your mind sometimes. It’s slow and unglamorous and nobody gives you dopamine hits for doing it.
Having a view installed is effortless. You scroll, you absorb, you move on. The algorithm notices what makes you linger and serves you more of it. Not because it’s true or well-reasoned, but because it’s sticky.. Engaging.. Optimised.. Controversial..?
And slowly, without realising it, your head fills up with thoughts that feel like yours but arrived without invitation.
I don’t think this makes me a parrot exactly. That feels too dramatic.
But it does make me wonder how much of what ‘I believe’, I actually believe.. How many of my ‘opinions’ are just residue from content I consumed passively. How many conversations I’ve had where I was basically just forwarding someone else’s take in an attempt to be interesting/different/engaging in whatever social setting I was in at the time.
It’s a strange thing to sit with. The idea that you might not be the original author of your own thoughts.
This is part of why I’m building 142.
Not because an app can make you think harder. It can’t. That’s on you.
But maybe the algorithm shouldn’t be the one deciding what ideas get loaded into your head in the first place. Maybe connection shouldn’t be algorithmically optimised for engagement. Maybe there’s a version of this where you’re not just passively receiving.. One where the people you hear from are people you’ve actually chosen, saying things they actually mean to you specifically.
I don’t know if that solves the parrot problem. But it feels like a start.
Matt