Most of us are aware that the internet, especially Social Media, tracks our every move, and uses an algorithm to expose us to more of what they believe we like and are looking for. Obviously this is for commercial reasons so their advertisers have a higher chance of selling their products, and in the recent US Elections, it is clear how the same system of algorithms was used to exposed us to more of our beliefs, so if it was obvious that we like political party A with policies B and C, then it will keep suggesting more images, videos, clips and reports supporting our preexisting beliefs.
Merriam-Webster.com defines an algorithm in social media as “algorithms determine how content is filtered, ranked, selected and recommended to users. In some ways, algorithms influence our choices and what we see on social media.” Which attests
From birth, our survival-learning instinct categorizes everything experience as safe or a threat, based on our previous experience with it that far. Of course, that means that when that assumption leads to another positive outcome, it reinforces our belief system. As an example, imagine if a small baby is sleeping quietly on a pillow on the floor, and a dog walks into the room, and while standing right next to the baby, barks to say hello to it’s owners. The loud noise wakes the baby, the parents snatch the crying child up to sooth it, and the dog is chased out of the room. The baby doesn’t even know what a dog is yet, but the natural fright reaction is stored in the brain, along with the image of the dog, the sound of the barking, and the protective behaviour of the adults. Next time the child sees a dog, it triggers the fear reaction, so the baby cries, and this results in the same protective coddling of the baby. Eventually, a strange dog, sees the child, the child goes into fear, which is felt by the dog, which causes the dog to react to the “little human’s fear” by barking at it. Each of these interactions reinforces the person’s fear of dogs, and although there’s a good chance they will never remember the incidents, 30 years later they get married and their partner wants to own a pet, and they flatly refuse to own a dog (and we judge them for their “crazy” choice).
In life, EVERY interaction we have, is put through the same evaluation system, and that almost instant and unconscious algorithm causes us to judge the world around us, and make choices, not on the facts, but on the algorithm. And of course, just like the internet and Social Media, each choice reinforces the algorithm.
This can feel very stressful, because it is a primal unconscious survival algorithm, our rationalizing cerebral cortex validates our choices and we defend it to the death, fighting with loves ones, colleagues and friends, and making casual and serious decisions and choices based on it. There is a good chance that we know on a deep level that our belief is an “irrational fear of the dog”, but we can’t shake the bodily response feelings, and so we continue to obey the algorithm.
UNLESS….. we choose to live CONSCIOUSLY and question all our beliefs, especially those that cause feelings of stress in our lives, and examine, for ourselves, whether those belief is still valid, or if there is new evidence that should be consciously added to the algorithm and override it, so we can make choices that will steer us to a choice that contributes more productively to our lives and the lives of those we interact with as well as the larger world we coexist in.
If you want to know what you can do to be a human pattern interrupt, identify when your algorithms don’t really serve your greatest good, and how to change them, feel free to book a time with me and start to create the life you desire and deserve.