The algorithms are tuned for engagement - a blind result of massive A/B testing. People engage with content that causes fear, addiction, get-rich quick schemes,

The algorithms are tuned for engagement - a blind result of massive A/B testing. People engage with content that causes fear, addiction, get-rich quick schemes, and ideology. I quit FB years ago when I started feeling like something was off. It was once fun to see what my friends and family were up to. But, it turned into an irrational battleground of ideology of people who had never ever cared about ideology beforehand. Oldtime friends fighting and hating each other. Recently, I created a new FB account to see what I was missing. Immediately, I was bombarded with videos of scantily clothed teenagers, crypto hawkers, videos that hinted at Human's darker side. The friends that were still active were exclusively peddling memes of extremism. That experiment didn't last long. I'm currently avoiding every platform that algorithmically decides what content to show me (except YouTube which generally shows me content that's interesting and useful to me). It's a relief to my mental health. And, I realize how much of my day was wasted with content that had no use to me.