Reclaiming Our Humanity: how to get back what the algorithm stole

One of the things I’ve been reflecting on as the year comes to an end is how we can reclaim our humanity. It’s a pretty bold statement to say that we’ve lost our humanity, not to mention a depressing one, but I think a lot of us would agree that something is missing in our world. It’s hard to describe exactly what that missing piece is, but we feel it. When we look up from our phone after doom scrolling for hours we feel it, when we see the polarization on the news we feel it, when we see kids sucked into their devices we feel it. It’s this feeling of not being able to think and not feeling like we have our own agency. I could list a hundred other examples but I know you know what I’m talking about, because we’re all victims of it, it’s the way the current system is designed. 

We’ve been on this trajectory for a while. I’ve touched on it in other posts, but as our growth goals got larger and larger the machine of capitalism needed more fuel. We were that fuel. All that was needed from us was to work and consume. Our own goals and ambitions weren’t important to the larger machine. Luckily for a long time, the machine wasn’t able to be everywhere all the time. It had to rely on TV ads, billboards, and other fixed mediums. It was hard to avoid but it wasn’t all-encompassing. That was until we let it into our pocket. With smartphones, the machine was with us all the time, and the business model went into overdrive. Now there’s a war for our attention. This is the attention economy. The more time we spend scrolling through one app, the more those behind that app make. So the incentive is to keep us on the app and our phones as long as possible. To do this companies employ all sorts of psychological maneuvers to keep us coming back. This is what I believe is sapping humanity from us. 

When we spend the majority of our waking hours staring at screens and constantly consuming information, we essentially drown out everything that makes us us. We’re just at the mercy of whatever the algorithm is feeding us. There’s no intention in what we’re choosing to watch, read, or listen to. We’re not thinking about what we’re consuming, we just consume and repeat. Our own rich inner lives don’t have the space to surface among the constant drip of TikTok videos, Twitter posts, and IG stories. With this, we lose our ability to think critically and we lose ourselves. In a recent piece on art, I talked about how art is one of those special things that make us human. It showcases our ability to reflect on our inner life and then express it to the world. We can’t do that if we’re not in touch with our inner life, we can’t do that if we don’t have the room to even think about our inner life. 

It’s not just the ability to make art that we lose. It’s the ability to know ourselves and make intentions about how we live. When was the last time you spent an extended period of time with just your thoughts? I bet you can’t remember, because it’s something we don’t do anymore. If we have a moment of free time we just open up our phones and distract ourselves. We can’t bear to be with ourselves anymore and that’s the problem. Those periods of time where it’s just us are some of the most vital moments in our growth and what makes us human. In those moments is where we make the breakthroughs, it’s how we reflect and integrate what we’ve been through, it’s how we figure out where we want to go next. It’s also just how we find peace because in those moments it’s just us. It may be uncomfortable at first, but after a while, you feel that peace wash over you and you get in touch with your humanity. 

This is what I mean by reclaiming our humanity. It’s taking the time and mental energy back from the apps and the devices in our pockets. Johann Hari has a great book titled Stolen Focus about how modern technology has destroyed our ability to focus and think. I love that he uses the term stolen because I think it describes the situation perfectly. As humans, we have extraordinary abilities to focus, think, create, and connect with others. It’s how we got here, but smartphones, late-stage capitalism, and social media have stolen those abilities from us. Instead of doing the things that lead to rich and fulfilling lives, we scroll. It’s not just affecting our productivity but it’s also affecting our leisure. We can’t watch TV without pulling out the phone, we can’t go for a walk without a podcast, and the “feed” goes wherever we go. 

So one of the themes for 2023 for me is going to be reclaiming my humanity. For me, this involves not using my phone as a distraction and not letting the algorithms dictate my life. I’m not going to get rid of it because I think smartphones do many useful things but I want to use them intentionally. So if I want to look something up, play music, or watch a Yoga video I won’t hesitate to unlock my phone. If I want to see what’s going on in pop culture, politics, or world events, I’ll just go to one of my favorite websites instead of just relying on the algorithm to give me what it thinks will keep me looking at the screen the longest. I won’t open Instagram every time I’m bored at work. I won’t play 5 podcasts a day just to fill the void. I’ll still listen to podcasts, occasionally flick through IG, and maybe see what’s going on in Post (one of the Twitter alternatives) but it will be intentional. I will try to think about what I’m seeing and actually engage with it. 

That engagement goes for everything I interact with. When I read a book, or watch a movie or TV show, I want to actually think and reflect about what I just watched, read, or listened to. I want to actually interact with it and use those tools of humanity we have to inform real thoughts and opinions. I’m done mindlessly scrolling through “content, " looking for the dopamine hit, and then moving on. I’m also going to let myself be bored and in that boredom think about life, make things, and do things. I want to use our gifts to do fulfilling things like writing and making art. I want to use our amazing body to move and be out in the world. I want to truly connect with my friends and family and not have technology distract us. I want to reclaim my humanity and I hope you’ll join me.