Peer-Reviewed Books

As both a Harvard alumnus and a content creator, Adam Aleksic uses humor to address how algorithms are shaping our everyday language. Although most have heard of brainrot terms including fads like 67 (whose whole meaning is that it has no meaning), social media is influencing our language beyond what is simply viral. As our algorithms become more complex and more addictive, it is useful to take a step back to view how companies and certain agendas are changing our language, and therefore our ideas, too. 

Social media is a place where ideas can get shared, and hence a place where marginalized or niche interest groups connect. However, it is also a way that companies can ensure the continued marginalization of these groups unconsciously. For instance, by censoring words that can be offensive to the Black community or the LGBTQ+ community – any community with an identity, really – the video becomes harder to find, and therefore gets exposed to less people. Though this is supposed to help oppressed communities, it can also hurt them, as these videos may be ways of connecting or comforting over trauma or of spreading awareness. Be aware that there are many offensive or mature words in this book that are used to illustrate this point.

And it doesn’t expand just to offensive words, either. It also oppresses ideas. With the way social media apps are structured around profitability and  the spread of short-form video content, creators have barely three seconds to get you to stay to watch the video. So the more outrageous, the more likely you are to watch until the end. This encourages videos with extreme and dangerous political views because these generate interaction with the video, such as comments, and the algorithm awards interaction. The way the algorithm sorts through what is likely to go viral (and what it should display on your feed to keep you stuck to the app) is a kind of censorship in itself, because you’re shown only a fraction of the available content. What we don’t see is what has failed to keep other people engaged, which leads to more moderate views disappearing from our suggested pages. The algorithm is based on a limited perception that only wants to profit from us, so we end up consuming content that increases our political polarization. 

With the way we are dependent on these algorithms for news, comedy, and entertainment doesn’t just influence our single isolated selves – it influences the way the world revolves, too. The near future, if we don’t change the way these algorithms are centered around profit, sees a world with censored debate and unmoderated hate speech. 

Even if you don’t have social media, this book is easily readable – especially if you pair it with Aleksic’s explanatory videos online – and hugely informative of not just language, but modern society. Social media is not likely to be the last new technology that vies for our attention, so learning how to combat the free dopamine it offers is incredibly important.

So maybe we are cooked. But if we at least know we are, then we can start looking for solutions.