‘We’re all feeling more anxious than we used to five years ago’: Filterworld writer Kyle Chayka

Kyle Chayka has been a leading internet age writer for over a decade. He has written hilariously about everything from the death of memes to the rise of cafes and digital spaces for various publications. In his latest book, Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture, the 35-year-old, who reports for the New Yorker, presents deep and relevant questions about the technology that influences our choices in music, food, travel and movies. leading ones. , more often than not, in the strengthening homogenisation of culture. (Also read: ‘Aishwarya Rai is just an image!’ Sanjana Thakur after winning the 2024 Commonwealth Award for her novel called the actor)

He also vividly describes the unsettling feeling of living in such a Filterworld and the difficulty of developing taste in it. “Creating your own sense of taste, a set of unconscious principles by which you determine what you like, is an uphill battle compared to just eating food,” says Chayka. whatever gives you that,” says Chayka.

In this interview with Hindustan Times, he talks about algorithmic anxiety, the impact of technology on our physical reality, and gaining control over our entire experience.

You wrote about Facebook’s redesign of its News Feed in 2006 in your book. Did that herald the algorithmification of social media?

Yes, I think so. It was the introduction of Suggestions about the type of content we consume online, and it marked the moment where we couldn’t choose what we wanted to see on our feeds. We started to give representation and responsibility to Suggestions, and, I think, Facebook succeeded in getting many companies to follow suit.

We all feel more anxious than we used to five years ago, because our diet is more confusing and tricky than it used to be.

You started writing about ‘algorithmic anxiety’ in 2022. Are many people talking about it now?

This term was actually coined around 2018. When I started writing my book in 2020, I thought that somehow this problem would end and people would stop talking about algorithms. Obviously I was wrong. Things have become algorithmic online over time. I was hoping that by writing about algorithmic anxiety in a book, I could give people a label for this feeling that they have. We all feel more anxious than we used to five years ago, because our diet is more confusing and tricky than it used to be. Algorithmic anxiety is not knowing what we really like versus what we are shown in our food.

Do you feel like algorithms have shaped human desires in the last decade? Do I listen to a certain type of electronic music because I like it, or because I was influenced by Spotify or YouTube Music?

These suggestions, like maybe Spotify’s, may help you find electronic music, but they don’t go much deeper than that. You can find something new, but the supply keeps telling you the same things. So, you have to work on it, dig deep to find new resources. I feel like I’ve hit that wall many times myself. Lately, I’ve been getting into samba and bossa nova music. I found a lot on Spotify, but the app makes it more difficult to find new stuff, like B-sides and reduces the depth of these songs, and I have to fight Spotify to find new samba .

You talk about cultural tastemakers and arbiters of cultural taste in your book. You were an art critic yourself. Are they really better than an algorithm?

There are pros and cons to both. In the old human gatekeeper example you had art critics like myself telling the audience what to look out for and trying to show them what was good. It was an upward process. Not everyone can be an art critic or film critic, or have a platform to discuss their passions. In the age of algorithmic and digital publishing, anyone can put their thoughts out there, which I think is beautiful and powerful. But what gets attention is largely dictated by algorithmic recommendations based on traffic and engagement. Food often encourages the ordinary, while a person’s taste can emphasize the unusual or the extreme. You need a balance of those two things, but right now, we’re worried about not having enough cultural norms and we’re not paying enough attention to those people.

Earlier this week, residents of Barcelona protested against mass tourism. Social media is often cited as a major cause of extreme tourism. What kinds of other battles do you see emerging in our war against technology?

Tourism is huge. Work, too. Platforms like Uber or Spotify don’t reward workers the way they should. Driving directions based on real-time data can sometimes disrupt quiet areas. Or even restaurant recommendations. These will continue to become a source of enmity simply because they cause so much impact on our body. People will naturally push back faster in areas where they feel the impact of algorithmic recommendations the most.

Food often encourages the ordinary, while a person’s taste can emphasize the unusual or the extreme. You need a balance of those two things

New York recently signed a law to regulate the distribution of social media and news to protect young people. Other US states are also advocating stronger laws.

I think it’s not just children, we all suffer, so any law passed for children should also apply to adults. In theory, children shouldn’t be on Instagram, but in practice it’s not really enforced, is it? So, the next best thing is to have the ability to disable algorithmic recommendations on any platform. We should be able to fully control our experience.