You didn’t tell anyone you were feeling low, yet your social media feed is suddenly full of motivational videos and uplifting quotes. It almost feels fulfilling, comforting, even, to receive this kind of “treatment”.
You never searched for it.
And yet, the algorithm always knew what you needed, exactly when you needed it.
Do you still believe this is a mere coincidence? Behind every scroll, every click, even every lingering pause, there is an invisible system watching, learning, predicting.
It isn’t just responding, it anticipates.
The algorithm doesn’t understand us the way humans do.
It understands us the way patterns do.
And patterns are often more honest than words.
The algorithm will always know you better than you know yourself.
To label algorithms as either mirrors or blueprints is to invoke Janus — forcing a false choice between reflection and direction.
It has reached a point where there’s little doubt that each of us now possesses an algorithmic self: a completely digital, standalone twin that knows and remembers everything, sometimes far better than our conscious mind ever could.
Algorithms track micro-signals like tiny hesitations, half-scrolls, moments where attention almost slips. And have you noticed how these systems rarely challenge our personal biases or opinions? Acting like yes-men grants them intimate access to us, slowly pulling us deeper into a dopamine spiral of doom.
This phenomenon closely resembles apophenia, the human tendency to perceive meaningful patterns in random data. But here lies the calamity: algorithms aren’t merely recognising patterns; they’re learning to manipulate the signals we emit through our content consumption, especially during moments of emotional distress.
Instagram, TikTok, every app you use has an algorithm built into it to exploit you, your attention, your impulses, and your mental capacity to pause, reflect, and correct your own behaviour.
And at a critical point in time, like this, we find ourselves standing at the edge of a choice.
Do we fight for our own false positives and insecurities, or do we succumb to becoming a mere data set; being “restored” and “optimised” by pattern.
When our emotional states are repeatedly mirrored back to us by algorithms, self-awareness begins to erode. We stop asking why we feel a certain way, because the feed has already named it for us. Sadness becomes content. Motivation becomes a consumable. Healing becomes a loop designed to keep us scrolling rather than
improving.
It starts feeling like your identity and your perception become reactive more than reflective.
This is where the cruel, merciless optimisation of algorithms start to take over, turning emotional distress into profit and a game of endless engagement. If outrage, insecurity, or emotional volatility keeps users watching and fingers scrolling, the system learns to reproduce those dire states efficiently.
It’s tempting to villainise algorithms as conscious manipulators, but that grants them too much agency.
Algorithms do not choose to exploit human vulnerability; they are trained to do so.
This grants algorithms a form of power without accountability. There is no ethical pause, no responsibility for psychological aftereffects — only feedback loops that refine and strengthen themselves through our behaviour.
What appears neutral is, in reality, deeply directional. When platforms decide what is surfaced and what is buried, they quietly shape perception, belief, and desire — not through intention, but through the optimisation of raw emotion.
The algorithm will continue to learn, predict, and optimise. That much is inevitable. What remains uncertain is whether we will continue to hand over our inner lives without question. Awareness may not dismantle the system, but it disrupts its smooth operation.
And sometimes, resistance doesn’t begin with rebellion, but with the simple act of pressing the lock button on your device.
Discover more stories on Her Campus at MUJ. For a tour in my corner, visit Aryan Oak at HCMUJ.