Blog Post#2 The algorithmized self

 

Are we allowing enough time at the receiving or sending end to complete or comprehend a message? Speaking for myself, most times when I receive a long text from text someone or receive a 10 min clip from watching, I skim through them to get a general idea, so I don't waste time. Due to information overload on the web and people spending quite a bit of time on their mobile devices, people tend to multitask. This makes the application TikTok so enticing to many people of the younger generation. The video clips created are not more than 3 mins long, meaning you spend the rest of that time being more productive in doing something else. The application algorithm provides users with videos they would be interested in to keep them continuously scrolling on the app. TikTok starts to learn about you as a person in the stuff that you like to keep you with content that keeps you hooked on the application. I experienced this when conversing with a friend about how we didn't like the ending of a TV show that we both liked. As soon as the conversation ended and I headed back home, the application started to provide me with multiple videos of people reacting to the last episode of the series. Reading The article " Why Everyone's on TikTok " and watching the Netflix documentary on The Social Dilemma, I noticed how they both spoke about how automated recommendation systems enable capitalism. These technologies allow users' self-making practices to be collected and sold through aggregation, abstraction, and categorization. Doctor Cheney-Lippold (2011) argued that automated categorization practices define how we create and manage our own identities. This article made me question my identity; I wondered if I buy the things I do because I want to have them or because these applications tricked me into thinking that I've always wanted them. I do not have the question yet, but I intend to do more soul-searching to find out.


The link to the article

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20563051221086241#bibr6-20563051221086241 


-Antony Kaseba

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