Harmless Media Feeds - or no?

by Anita Benedict

Watching videos on Facebook can and will determine what you will see. If you Google something you may find related ads popping up. How you think and talk about will show up on your feed.

    Think I am crazy? I am not alone.

    I sent a video on creating miniatures to my sister on messenger. She then had four videos pop up on her own Facebook feed about creating miniatures before she had even answered my message.

   After I sent her that video, every third video I watched was about minis, likely due to the fact I had been watching a guy open minis he had received in the mail.

   Seems harmless, until it isn't. 

   I have been interested in collecting minis for awhile, nothing serious just fun things. But I recently found myself obsessing. I bought three mystery kitten packs because I love cats. At least they were only $1.75, unlike some others at 5 and 10 dollars.

   I also noticed that when I would pause at an unhealthy video, like those that spew hate, I would see more of them. Many of them had content that is often false or misleading, enough to get folks riled up. I was constantly searching to find any accuracy. The counter videos or those with a variety of thought were slim.

   That becomes dangerous for the mind. We need to start thinking for ourselves and stop getting our "news" from bots and AI generated content. We have allowed print to nearly die and have been told to not trust mainstream media which most blindly did, all while believing every word produced by bots or people with a "divide so we can easily conquer" mentality.

    A former Hants North teacher, Mrs. Betty O'Toole, was right, we must be “thinking students.” Think about what we are seeing and do some fact checking from several sources.

    Give it a try, don't pause at stuff that is considered controversial for a few days. Watch silly things like cat videos or quirky craft or cooking tutorials. It always works for my sense of peace.