Algorithmic anger

I work with a woman who is very angry. All the time.

It must be exhausting.

Why? Her interface with the world is largely through Facebook. She sees the world through a lens of ‘everything is shit and it’s specifically because of immigrants and benefit cheats’.

Whenever I’m on shift with her, as I arrive at 8am, she is already furious, ranting about ‘sending them home’ or ‘cutting off their money’.

Sometimes it’s not even entirely clear who ‘they’ are, but they are certainly responsible for everything bad that happens. All the time. Everywhere.

Although I’d bet ‘they’ doesn’t include tax avoiding billionaires.

This woman is a care professional who manages to appear empathetic and caring for the people she supports.

It’s interesting how this empathy seems to evaporate when it comes to perhaps even more vulnerable people she doesn’t know personally.

Everyday just more and more anger. She’s trapped in an algorithmic vicious cycle. Whoever said ‘angry people click more’ was right.