HYPERFOCUSED.CO.UK

In applying the term algorithm what we mean in this sense is the automated pushing of content on platforms related to what you’ve shown interest in.

Isn’t it great, having something to analyze your behaviour and curate personalised content feeds making sure you get relevant content?

In one way it should be but there is a less helpful side to this that can severely impact our wellbeing and view of the world around us.

If you watch the news all the time you will have a view of the world as a hostile place where everyone is fighting and extremism is on the rise. Without reducing the impact of this, it is another curated feed which tells us nothing of the good things happening. The news is rarely uplifting despite the lovely things that happen every day like acts of kindness, stories of heroism and survival, amazing feats done for charity, stories of love and devotion etc.

What we feed our brains really does impact our mood and sense of wellbeing and this is where the algorithm makes a difference.

For example, once I started to consider that I may have ADHD back in late autumn 2025, I threw myself into that world. I searched up so many resources and joined ADHD-related Facebook groups. I followed people with neurodivergence on LinkedIn and changed my bio to say that I wanted to raise awareness of ADHD.

The algorithms have meant that all of my social media feeds are full of ADHD one way or the other. Frankly it gets me down sometimes reading repetitive bot-driven clickbait and people talking of their difficulties with ADHD. I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic as I identify with those difficulties but it can be relentless. This content curation does a few things to our outlook:

• It makes us feel like this is the number one issue out in the world as it’s everywhere
• It can saturate to the point that it becomes overwhelming (sometimes I just want to see videos of a kitten falling over in the snow)
• It can make you feel like everyone has a lot of knowledge of neurodivergence because you see so much about it when really it can still be greatly misunderstood
• Sometimes it can affect who can see your posts and vice versa

Algorithms can be really helpful but also overwhelming and give you a false sense of the world around us so take care with it. Get out there and curate your own content whether by searching for other stuff or getting off the phone and tasting real life as random and lacking of order as it can be.

Having watched Toy Story 5 with the family yesterday, Father’s Day, it definitely brought a few things home about how curating content whilst helpful also feeds addiction and dopamine hits.

So algorithm, help or harm?