Algorithmic Addiction: Why You Can’t Stop Scrolling

What are the different social media platforms you use? How often do you use them? Do you monitor the amount of time spent on social media? Nowadays, social media become part of our daily lives. The world of likes, comments, and shares. Many times you may feel like those social media feeds are made for you. They understand you better. If you are sad, then your feeds are also filled with melancholy. If you are in love with someone, your social media feeds also become romantic. Have you ever experienced these? If yes, then this article is for you. 

What are Social Media Algorithms? 

Algorithms are computational procedures that take some input and transform them into outputs. Social media algorithms act as personal assistants who sort personalized content for you. How they work: 

• Understanding your preferences: Algorithms keep track of what you like, share, and where you comment. They even analyze how much time you spend on each post. Based on this, they create your personalized profile. 
• Sorting content: You are not seeing some random posts or reels from the world of social media. These algorithms prioritize content from your favorite persons, pages, and topics. They are trying to engage you with what you’ll enjoy the most. 
• Learning and evolving: Your interactions help the algorithm to evolve. The more you use the platform, the better your personalized profile becomes.

These algorithms strive to keep your feed fresh and engaging so that you often visit them. That’s why you often find social media more interesting, frequently visit them, and lose track of time. 

How Social Media Become Addictive? 

Think about the factors that made you often visit social media. Sometimes you are planning to engage in something (for instance, doing your assignment), you begin your work and suddenly a notification pops up on your phone. This makes you curious and a sense of urgency to take your phone and check the notification. 

Psychiatrists from Stanford say these kinds of rewarding stimuli (likes, comments, notifications, etc) keep you engaged in the content. They say a “like” on your photo may stimulate the same dopamine pathway involved in motivation, reward, and addiction. Psychiatrist Sara Johansen points out that it’s not just the “pleasure rush of like” that makes us engaged but also “it’s the intermittent absence of the like that keeps us engaged”. 

Cognitive Bias Reinforcement 

One of the most immediate psychological effects of algorithmic bias is the reinforcement of cognitive biases. Cognitive biases are systematic errors in thinking that affect decision-making and perception. Some common cognitive biases you may experience include the following: 

Confirmation Bias 

According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, confirmation bias is “the tendency to gather evidence that confirms preexisting expectations, typically by emphasizing or pursuing supporting evidence while dismissing or failing to seek contradictory evidence”. You are falling into this through the algorithmic curation of social media feeds. You are continuously seeing content based on your existing beliefs which are stored in your personalised profile. So, what happens is you only see contents that reinforce your existing beliefs. Alternative perspectives and contradicting content will not appear in your feed. This will affect your critical thinking ability and result in polarized thinking. 

Availability Heuristics 

Availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that lets you judge different events in your life based on how readily they are available to your mind. How is this connected to algorithmic bias? As mentioned above, social media algorithms show similar content based on your previous interaction. This will overrepresent the likelihood of certain events. For example, if you spent some time in crime news before, then you will start seeing more crime news. This may make you feel that your surrounding world is more threatening than it is. This can lead to heightened fear, anxiety, or misplaced trust in false information. 

Emotional and Psychological Wellbeing

Algorithmic bias can affect your self-esteem, mood, and overall mental health. 

Anxiety and Depression 

Continuous exposure to biased content may increase your anxiety or depressive levels. Among marginalized communities, continuous exposure to negative or harmful content related to their identity can contribute to feelings of helplessness, fear, and self-doubt. Exposure to idealized lifestyles and beauty standards can lead to unrealistic social comparisons, resulting in low self-worth and body dissatisfaction.

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) 

Algorithmic bias can also contribute to FOMO, a pervasive anxiety about missing out on rewarding experiences that others are having. People often post the best parts of their lives while hiding their struggles. Algorithms also showcase such content to you. This may create a feeling of inadequacy and disconnection from peers. Research also shows an association between extensive social media usage and psychological distress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among teenagers. The constant need for social validation and exposure to cyberbullying also contributes to this. 

Perceptions of Reality and Misinformation 

Algorithmic bias also influences how users perceive reality, shaping attitudes toward social issues and governance. 

Illusory Truth Effect 

The illusory truth effect occurs when repeated exposure to misinformation increases belief in its accuracy. Algorithmic bias prioritizes content that is viral and engaging irrespective of its accuracy. This often led people to believe in false information. Commercialization of social media can be visible in this. Investors can decide what they want to see. This is often misused and affects public opinion, voting behavior, and trust in institutions. 

Desensitization to Extremist Content 

Prolonged exposure to extremist content can lead to desensitization. When algorithms repeatedly present polarizing material, users may become numb to shocking or unethical narratives, reducing empathy and increasing acceptance of harmful ideologies. 

Strategies for Mitigation 

Addressing the psychological effects of algorithmic bias requires both platform accountability and user awareness. 

Algorithm Transparency and Regulation 

Social media companies should reveal to the public how their algorithms function. Even though these many social media platforms and artificial intelligence are easily available to the public nowadays, there are not many regulations regarding it. Implementing regulatory measures and ethical AI frameworks can help mitigate bias and ensure diverse content representation.

Digital Literacy Education 

The public should be made aware of what kinds of data are collected and how social media influence them. So, digital literacy programs need to be planned to teach individuals to recognize cognitive biases, fact-check information, and diversify their content consumption. Digital literacy can be included in the academic curriculum so that children become more aware of it. Teenagers are more prone to several consequences of these biases. Moreover, algorithms designed to keep users engaged will affect the attention span and performance of children in different areas. 

Mental Health Interventions 

Given the impact on mental well-being, mental health organizations should collaborate with tech companies to design interventions that mitigate the harmful effects of biased social media exposure. Thereby making more human-friendly algorithms than for commercial purposes. Since these algorithmic biases are affecting people psychologically, proper psychological support should be planned for them.

Especially children become victims of various mental health consequences. Continuous engagement in social media affects their sustained attention and increases distractibility. So mental health professionals have to provide different cognitive training to children to regain their abilities.

Read More: Psychology and Artificial Intelligence

Conclusion 

Algorithms are efficient in curating content for you by filtering uninterested content. However, this filtering also causes different biases and results in different psychological consequences. They reinforce your cognitive biases, and groupthink, and affect your emotional well-being. They can also contribute to the spreading of misinformation quickly without proper monitoring. 

While these biases are embedded within automated systems, their effects on human psychology require urgent attention. Addressing these issues through regulation, education, and mental health initiatives can help create a more balanced and psychologically healthy digital landscape. 

FAQs 

1. What is algorithmic bias in social media? 

Algorithmic bias in social media refers to the systematic favoring of certain types of content over others by automated recommendation systems. This bias often reflects existing societal prejudices and influences what users see in their feeds, potentially reinforcing stereotypes, misinformation, and ideological polarization. 

2. Can algorithmic bias affect mental health? 

Yes, algorithmic bias can contribute to anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. For instance, biased content that disproportionately highlights harmful narratives related to a user’s identity can cause emotional distress. Similarly, the glorification of idealized lifestyles can lead to unhealthy social comparisons and feelings of inadequacy. 

3. How does algorithmic bias contribute to social polarization? 

By amplifying divisive content and limiting exposure to diverse viewpoints, algorithms can create ideological echo chambers. This fosters groupthink, making users less tolerant of opposing perspectives and increasing societal polarization. 

4. Does algorithmic bias influence misinformation spread? 

Yes, algorithms prioritize engagement, often promoting sensational or misleading content over factual accuracy. This contributes to the illusory truth effect, where repeated exposure to misinformation increases belief in its accuracy, impacting public opinion and trust in institutions. 

5. How can individuals mitigate the effects of algorithmic bias? 

Users can take steps such as diversifying their content sources, practicing critical thinking, fact-checking information, and being aware of how algorithms shape their feed. Digital literacy education can help individuals recognize and counteract biased content. 

6. What can social media companies do to reduce algorithmic bias? 

Tech companies can increase transparency in how their algorithms work, implement ethical AI practices, and actively work to diversify content representation. Regulation and independent audits of algorithmic decision-making can also help mitigate bias. 

7. Is there a link between algorithmic bias and extremist content? 

Yes, repeated exposure to biased or extreme content can lead to desensitization, reducing empathy and making users more accepting of harmful ideologies. Algorithms that prioritize sensationalist material over nuanced discussions contribute to this phenomenon.