A problem with social media that i haven't seen anyone ever talk about.
Sorry in advanced for my English, I am a long time looker and a first time poster, i am not a native english speaker so i might be phrasing myself poorly and/or using the wrong words
The algorithms are made to captivate you, They will always show you videos they believe will either be enjoyable to you, or something that you might catch an interested in.
When i was still using TikTok it wasn't as much of a problem.
Tiktok's algorithm is quite long lasting so it will rarely change, and even if it does it takes quite a long time for it to completely change, if you see a Thirst trap you can just scroll/press not interested and it'll clear your feed for a while.
Instagram/Facebook/Meta Reels is where the problem truly is, Their algorithm is constantly changing quite abruptly.
You interact with content you like and the algorithm proceeds to show you more of it, But ofcourse after a while you get tired of the same thing over and over again. You stop interacting, and end up scrolling quickly trying to find something different to watch.
My experience with the latter is that since your feed changes so unpredictably you end up getting thirst traps on your feed, which (even though it isn't a problem for me) could easily lead to a relapse. And regardless of how many times this happens, it'll happen more.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Posted Feb 19, 2026, 3:07 PM UTC