On Negativity & Algorithmic Sludge

The 17th of April, 2025

Sorry no pretty pictures or flowery prose this time

We exist at a time where the internet is a wondrous tool, something I find very hard to pull myself away from, but in this era, much of the user-facing sites are driven by algorithms. This is kind of cool in some ways. I like YouTube knowing the kind of video I enjoy so it can show me more. I love Apple Music understanding what kind of music I vibe with so it can recommend me albums. But all this tech comes at a cost.

Engagement is the holy metric by which all is judged in the world of corpo algorithms. This is good in some regards, but it also poses a great risk, I believe.

The rise of negativity.

It turns out that people most often engage with inflammatory and negative statements online, and now with so many platforms on the corpo web paying out, more engagement means more money for the person posting. This is really bad! It has created a web where everyone is always super mean, and inflammatory negative statements are pushed to millions regardless of their truthfulness.

As a result of this, I would like to remind my readers to consider before commenting! Ask yourself if it’s really worth engaging with negativity all the time. Every reply or engagement further amplifies what you're speaking out against! Such a thing also weighs on the spirit as well; we should surround ourselves with things that fill us with joy & wonder, not things that make us angry or afraid. The internet is our little escape from the real world, and yet we’ve dragged all the bad stuff from the waking world into our happy little dream. Sad state of things.

Because engagement is the currency the corpo web deals in, we should deny it to those who are unworthy.

There is a livestreamer who I will not name that is infamous online right now for harassing people in South Korea. Often, this fool makes headlines with whatever terrible thing he has done that day. People comment and harass him over the things he does, but in the end, we are all just giving the bully what he craves. It doesn’t matter if the engagement is positive or negative; it’s still lining his coffers. The solution is simple: the currency the corpo web deals in is engagement. If you dislike something or someone, the best thing you can do is simply ignore them. Don’t comment on criticism of them, don’t speak of them. In this modern era, we can will something away by simply ignoring it.

Why don’t we do that more?