Your Algorithm Is Fooling You

Parents frequently worry about the effect social media is having on their families. They approach the topic as if it were some sort of villain: The Algorithm is coming for our kids, they might say. But what is “The Algorithm?” And how is it affecting all of us?Simply put, social media algorithms are curated feeds. Machine learning allows these powerful programs to analyze someone’s social media use and—often with astonishing accuracy—predict what sort of content that someone might also enjoy. It