The Privilege of Being Picky

I wonder what came first: did social media algorithms train us to become more radical in our opinions, or are they simply reflecting something that was already happening? In times of uncertainty, and ours are certainly uncertain, our minds cling to simple answers. It’s easier to see everything in black and white and ignore the nuances. But reality isn’t like that. Reality is gray. And yet, black-and-white thinking seems to be everywhere, and some kind of milkshake-ducking is being applied frivolously to everything in sight. If you don’t support Democrats, you’re MAGA. If you post on X, you’re a fascist. Kagi is suddenly bad for using the Yandex index to improve its search. If you use AI in any shape or form, you’re destroying the planet. You know how it goes. There are countless versions of this story, and now that we have three Twitters, the fire is being stoked all over again. I urge you to stop doing that. You don’t know the whole story. You don’t know the context. And if you still…