How Generation-Z Are Stuck In An Algorithm

For a long time, we were designed to live life in a particular way. In the medieval age, a person always followed his pack, his group. He walked with them. He ate like them. He became one among them. Despite living life randomly, they had a pattern. A pattern that became the most important criteria for the tribe to accept a stranger. 

Later as civilizations began to establish themselves, there was an inherent routine everybody followed. Life was not random anymore. Even though there was chaos and diversity in their thoughts and expression, the way they lead their day was not different. There was a designated place to eat. A designated place to sleep. And a designated place to excrete. This pattern was later called routine. 

By the time we reached the pre-electronic era, people had started to live in a similar way. They consumed similar art. They shared the same furniture. Together, humans successfully created a culture that laid out a blueprint for any newborn life - schooling at 5, college at 16, employment at 22, and marriage at 26. 

Now, with social media, we have peaked our ability to forge a lifestyle that makes us more universal than diverse. Unlike medieval humans, it is not only what we do that is a pattern, it is also the pattern of how we think. It is also how we emote. 

We have always lived in an algorithm. We were just unaware of it. If the algorithm of the past forced us to eat the same things, the one of today is making us love the same way. The algorithm of various social media sites has become a tool to let you know what you are feeling if what you are feeling is what you think it is, if it is something else or if you really need to second guess yourself. Today, there are far more relationships that ape their surroundings than the ones that are being distinct in their own capacity. Sure, the emotions are always universal but never was a time when we all emoted the same way. 

Despite the neuroscience stating that a pattern, more often than not, helps in calming the human mind, it is the ability of humans to be different that brings us together. Great nations, successful companies, and fulfilling relationships that value empathy is built on the diversity of actions and emotions and not the uniformity of the same. Uniformity is mundane whereas diversity is progress. 

It is funny. It is actually because of an algorithm that you have come across this or even me. While I am grateful for it helping me showcase my work, I wish we could consciously choose life irrespective of the algorithm. 

There is also another side here. The more you try to break away from a pattern, the chances are you are falling into another. Can you escape this pattern dictated by others? There is very little hope there. Can you fight it? Absolutely, we can. It is in the conflict of what we want and what others want from us that where life breathes its fullest.

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