The algorithm would never work if the user had so little choice as to be "injected" with whatever they were shown. In fact we have full agency over whether we are interested enough to listen and trust the arguments, just like any other persuasive message. If not, we swipe up and injection fails.
This reminds me of the exaggerated claims made around subliminal advertising and brainwashing. People love to model others as weak-willed simpletons rather than accept that thoughtful people are persuaded because their perspectives differ.
This is true. People like TikTok and no one wants to admit it.
Personally I've found the content on it to be genuinely humorous and interesting, unlike Instagram which just wants to hook me in with Stories that I'll miss forever if I don't catch them with 24 hours, or controversial/rage-bait Explore Page videos. I was able to train the former app to be more of a happy place, the latter is still brainrot to me.
> In fact we have full agency over whether we are interested enough to listen and trust the arguments, just like any other persuasive message.
I definitely do not make conscious choices about swiping. It's entirely reaction. The line between "full agency" and operating automatically is incredibly blurry.
>In fact we have full agency over whether we are interested enough to listen and trust the arguments, just like any other persuasive message. If not, we swipe up and injection fails.
That just sounds like making your echo-chamber here. I think it's the opposite, when you don't have the agency to just ignore a contradictory narrative, when you have to steel-man their arguments and reconcile it with your beliefs is how you actually arrrive to the truth.
The real allure of the social media was that it seduced and inflated the ego in the hearts of the masses. That's why they could never accept the rawness of the older forums, that they didn't want to entertain the possibility of them being "wrong".
This reminds me of the exaggerated claims made around subliminal advertising and brainwashing. People love to model others as weak-willed simpletons rather than accept that thoughtful people are persuaded because their perspectives differ.