Do You Even Personalize, Bro?

There’s a video on YouTube from “Technology Connections” — who I’ve never heard of or watched until now — called Algorithms are breaking how we think. I learned of this video from Gedeon Maheux of The Iconfactory fame. Speaking in the context of why they made Tapestry, he said the ideas in this video would be their manifesto.

So I gave it a watch.

Generally speaking, the video asks: Does anyone care to have a self-directed experience online, or with a computer more generally?

I'm not sure how infrequently we’re actually deciding for ourselves these days [how we decide what we want to see, watch, and do on the internet]

Ironically we spend more time than ever on computing devices, but less time than ever curating our own experiences with them.

Which — again ironically — is the inverse of many things in our lives.

Generally speaking, the more time we spend with something, the more we invest in making it our own — customizing it to our own idiosyncrasies.

But how much time do you spend curating, customizing, and personalizing your digital experience? (If you’re reading this in an RSS reader, high five!)

I’m not talking about “I liked that post, or saved that video, so the algorithm is personalizing things for me”.

Do you know what to get yourself more of?

Do you know where to find it?

Do you even ask yourself these questions?

“That sounds like too much work” you might say.

And you’re right, it is work. As the guy in the video says:

I'm one of those weirdos who think the most rewarding things in life take effort

Me too.