Member-only story
The Algorithm Is Ruining the Way We Write
What happens when attention matters more than substance?
I hate the algorithm. As someone who works at its mercy, I still hate it to the core of my existence.Every single platform is ruled by it, and I hate it both as a creator and as a consumer.
Apparently, Mr Algorithm doesn’t care much about the quality of your content, as long as you manage to keep people hooked.
Let’s simply take LinkedIn as an example.
LinkedIn will happily push senseless content that has no perspective, adds zero value, and isn’t even entertaining. Yet, some of these posts manage to rank higher, thanks to the strange ways of the algorithm.
We stopped creating for people
One fine morning, we collectively decided that we would stop creating for humans and instead give in to the rat race of ranking higher.
We cannot entirely blame writers for this. Yes, we love writing, but it doesn’t make much sense to keep creating if nobody is reading what we write. So, we adapt.
We make our hooks so shocking that they leave readers startled. We resort to rage bait, victim blaming and vulgarity, anything that might keep someone reading for a few more seconds.
