The documentarian in me has become obsessed with the deterioration of our media environments and the impact this has on our views of reality. I’ve become fascinated by the grotesque quantity of video content being generated from all corners of the world (or at least the illusion of content coming from all corners of the world) and the extent to which forces can manipulate the content* (or at least create an illusion of having control over the content) to their benefit.
*for the purposes of this writing, I’m defining content fairly loosely: I’m mostly reacting to the videos, images, and writing that is delivered algorithmically to your devices for consumption. Anything on social media: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc. As well as anything that appears in curated newsfeeds: Apple News, Google News, news aggregators, etc.
I’m writing this to outline a high level view of how we got to where we are, and I offer some suggestions of what hopefully will help you win back your attention from greedy opportunists.
When I first started making documentaries, it felt sacred to record video. Magic even. I started making films in a time when the first Digital Single-Lens Reflex, DSLR’s were beginning to revolutionize the prosumer economy. It suddenly became cheap to record hours of daily life. For me, this was exciting as it presented new ways of creating images. When I clicked the little red record-button, my heart beat like the first time I kissed a woman, and I felt a sense of connection to some greater calling. So… I started recording a lot of things around me, chasing a feeling, following an instinct. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one. In 2007, 8,000 hours of video were recorded and uploaded to YouTube every day. A sign that something was shifting in societies’ relationship to video content.
Next came the camera phone. If the DSLRs gave prosumers the power to record movie-quality images, the camera phone brought this power into every modern household across the globe. And it could be done by the very tool that we use to communicate with each other.
Sharing videos and images became a fundamental part of the way we communicate. It slipped into modern culture at every turn. Birthdays, weddings, graduations, trips, pets, reunions, sports events, parties, etc. etc. The list goes on and on for the kinds of things that we became compelled to record. Video and imagery became the living memory of our private lives. So much so that it would probably be a simpler thing to just ask the inverse of the question: what areas in our daily lives do we feel unlikely to be photographed or recorded in? That list is shortening. In 2022, it was estimated that over 500,000 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube daily.
So we live now in a world where the sea of video content far outstrips our ability to consume it. It’s simply too much to take in. If you spent every minute of every day of your entire lives watching video content, you would watch roughly the amount of video being uploaded just to YouTube on the one day you read this post. And that number is only increasing.
With this overwhelming quantity of content, comes the business of curating the content. Of everything posted, what tiny tiny percent do we actually watch? And who chooses that? The race to capture our attention by media brands, politicians, advertisers, is no longer won by making another piece of content that will reach their audience. Instead, it is won by making content that goes viral, that cuts through the algorithms into our devices. Deliberately opaque, these algorithms pit creators against each other all with a goal in mind of getting them to spend more money on distribution and spend more energy creating content. The engineers of the algorithms, the gatekeepers (the social media platforms, the streaming platforms) become immensely powerful.
Creators now play a never ending game of guessing at what will work, at how the algorithms will deliver the content to their audience. Most content creators (whether an arthouse filmmaker, a writer, a videographer for ad agencies, etc.) know this pressure intimately to our detriment. If you have ever produced a video for a brand, for a streaming service, for a distribution platform, you know this pressure, this third voice that enters every edit bay, every writing room, every creative brief, causing anxiety, disappointment and frustrations: Tik Tok likes this. LinkedIn likes that. YouTube likes this. Facebook likes that. Shorter is better. Etc. Etc. The content becomes shaped by the delivery mechanisms. The audience is secondary.
And the goal of these gatekeepers, these algorithms, is to get consumers to engage as much as possible. Their business models depend on our attention. Where we spend our minutes, on which devices, on which platforms, results in billions and billions of dollars being put into pockets of the people engineering these trends. As a result, they deliberately make the algorithms feed us content that is more likely to result in our engagement, that is addicting, that evokes emotion, that enraptures us. What consumers see is an indescribably tiny fraction of the work being made in a never-ending stream of addicting content that is by its very nature designed to hide you from the algorithms delivering it to your doorstep. Perceived "truth" becomes shaped by its ability to play nice with algorithms, to evoke emotion, to help audiences build dopamine dependencies. Any kind of journalistic integrity, ethical decision making, is irrelevant in a world where content is curated for profit. True journalism becomes like a tree falling in a forest with no one around to hear it.
We’ve moved into a post-truth world. The mechanisms that select for content become synonymous with the creation of content. It is no longer relevant what content is created. The only thing relevant is what content is curated that reaches us for consumption. And, depending on your chemistry and world-beliefs it looks completely different. The algorithms doing the selecting have become complicated beyond our ability to understand them. They have become invisible. So, our brains latch on to what is far more easy to understand: the content itself. And so we consume it as truth. At an astounding rate.
So what hope is there in this world where we can not see the strings that control our limited attention spans? The only answer is to completely reshape your relationship with content in a way that makes plain the algorithms controlling our realities. We need new rules and frameworks for engaging with content. The forces governing these platforms manipulate our attention for profit. It is within our power not to give it to them. So we must reshape how we behave; we must see past the content and into the algorithms, and we must return to a world where we see clearly what is in front of us.
As a suggestion for how to start doing this, I’ll leave you with some core beliefs about content that are fundamentally wrong. And until we undo these beliefs, we will all be subject to this never ending system of consumption, subject to the exploitation of the forces in power:
1. Content connects humans and is leading to a deeper understanding of one another.
Content does not connect humans. This is an illusion that the algorithms love to create as a way to buy your attention. The only way for a human to connect with another human is through direct contact. There can be no middle man in this relationship. A human connecting to a piece of content about another human is extremely one-sided. The human on the other end of something you watched has no knowledge of your existence at that moment. No real connection is made. It is untrue to say otherwise. The past few years have shown us that content is much more likely to pit us against each other than to connect us. (side note: Some works of art or pieces of content of substance and rigor can offer some wonderful, great insights into the lives of other people. However, in these instances, no connection is made. Only an insight that hopefully gives you a deeper willingness to connect with a human next time you see one)
2. The content is important and no further investigation as to why or how it arrived in your life is needed.
This one is particularly tricky because you will probably read this and think to yourself that of course a video of a bombing in Palestine is important. So, I’ll pose this one as a series of questions: When you discussed the event later with friends, how often did you discuss the source where you learned about the event? How often did you discuss the algorithms that delivered it to you? How often do you discuss who profited from the content about the bombing of Palestine? If you’re anything like me, the answer to these questions is “not very often.” And if that is true, then you are behaving under the assumption that the content is important in and of itself and does not require further inquiry to understand why you are seeing it. Afterall, does it really matter to your life to see another video of the bombing of Palestine? And, are you willing to allow someone to profit from yours and your friends’ attention?
3. The content gives you an understanding of what groups of people think and feel, particularly when that belief system is defined by anger or hatred. Do you or your friends ever find yourself saying things like, “people are so crazy right now!” Or “It’s so upsetting that so many people believe X, Y, Z” or “people are really alarmed about X, Y, Z?” If so, it’s likely you are believing a myth created by the curators of content to drive your engagement. I would ask you a series of follow-ups to test this: who exactly are you talking about? Is it someone you have met? Is it based on a conversation you had in real life or is it based on content you have engaged with? If it is based solely on content, how much further did you investigate the claim? Did you consider who profited from you and your friends having adopted this belief? Have you ever considered having a real life conversation about this topic with someone you disagree with? Often content will make you feel as if you can understand other's emotions and worldviews. This type of content is extremely seductive because it gives you a feeling that you know, that you are privy to knowledge that defines other’s belief systems. This is a myth. And someone is profiting from this myth.
4. A single piece of content can deliver something fundamentally true. How often did you read something or watch something once and believe it to be true? If you did, you're giving that piece of content far too much importance. In a world where content is curated by algorithms, it is wrong to believe any one piece of content can give you truth. You are seeing the tiniest fraction of the content being made. It is there in front of you for a reason. It is incomplete to try to understand one single piece of content without understanding the mechanisms that delivered that content.
As a test: list 5 things you know to be true from content you’ve seen recently. For these 5 things, how many of them did you consider who profited and how from your attention?
5. A single piece of content is a threat to your or others’ physical well being. This is another tricky one. So I’ll have to pose this as a series of questions:
Have you ever shared a piece of content on a social media platform to save others from experiencing physical discomfort without considering who profits from your sharing? Have you ever considered this means someone is profiting from those people’s discomfort? Have you ever felt afraid for yours or others safety because of a single piece of content? Did this fear prevent you from considering who profited from your consuming it? Have you ever seen something and felt angry enough to want to fight someone then shared it with friends? Did this anger prevent you from considering the means by which the content was delivered to you?
Words have never killed a human being. Content has never killed a human being. No one piece of content is as dangerous as a human with a gun. Admittedly, words can lead people to take action against one another. But humans are the danger in that scenario. Not the content. You’re never (or at least not in normal, everyday situations) saving yourself or others by sharing one piece of content. You are, however, allowing others to profit from the attention placed on the content.
6. People who remain silent or uninformed about certain types of content are immoral or ignorant. (Sharing content is a moral act).
It is my belief that it is a fundamental human right to ignore content you want to ignore. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Often content that is curated for you will make you feel as if it is immoral to ignore it. It is worth remembering that any one piece of content is a tiny fraction of the content that is out there, and it has gone viral for a reason. Ask yourself, who is profiting from moralizing that you must post, like, share or otherwise engage with content? How are they benefiting from my increased likelihood of taking action?
7. There is a sense of urgency with some content
Content that is curated for you is exceptional at driving engagement without revealing its true purpose. Content can be like intrusive thoughts in our mind, driving us to act impulsively. Breaking news! Another executive action! Another shooting! Act now or it’s too late! The list goes on and on for things that motivate us to act (giving your attention is a form of action). Content becomes like a scam phone call, using a sense of urgency to steal your attention. And we act accordingly: “oh my goodness! Did you see what happened!?” you might exclaim when picking up your phone at a dinner party. So everyone else pulls out their phones… and who profits? “Can you believe this!?” you say to a loved one and you pass the phone to them… and who profits? There is never a sense of urgency with content. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying to you. It is a myth.
When engaging with content, ask yourself these questions: Was my attention something that I scheduled? Does the content include an actual threat to my existence or can I schedule my engagement for later?It is rare (if ever) that content ever actually needs immediate attention. Any other belief is a myth perpetuated by the content itself, curated by algorithms designed for profit.
So to sum up… there are some belief systems that should be called into question if not eradicated completely to have a healthy relationship with content. I’m sure there is more to add to the list, and I’m sure there is lots of room for dialogue. But, it’s a good start. And, I definitely do not mean to say that all content is bad (afterall, I make documentaries for a living!). Many types of content inspire us, open up our hearts, give us new ideas, challenge us, remind us of aesthetic beauty. And, many types of content do rightly demand our attention: true journalism, works of great art, watchdogs of democracy. But, this content lives alongside nefarious content. And in today’s media environment, the more addicting content is, the more likely it will be curated to arrive at your doorstep. So you have to fight back in your mind. You have to seek out healthy content. Act more deliberately. Schedule your own attention and do not let the opportunists win. Much depends on this.
Hopefully, that means you can enjoy it on your own terms.
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