Internet is surfing you

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 18:56:16 -0300

The internet is not a neutral place. To use the internet, even if only consuming content, it’s not like watching TV or listening to radio.

What you probably already know

Modern platforms do more than collect data. They build behavioral models. Cookies, device IDs, ad identifiers, browser fingerprints, search history, click patterns, dwell time, mouse movements, scroll depth, engagement timing, and social interactions are all turned into signals. Those signals are fed into machine learning systems that estimate not only what we like, but also what we are likely to react to, what triggers urgency, what creates doubt, and what keeps us connected for longer.

The real issue (I bet you didn’t know)

Across all major content platforms, what we choose to access, like, comment on, or watch leaves a “trail”. Everything you do is analyzed and recorded by the platform. Every tap on the screen, movement of your eyes, facial expression, what you say, interaction with the content shown, and other details are detected and recorded. Gradually, through code, the platform learns what makes you happy or sad, angry or outraged, and even what moves you or motivates you enough to act in a particular way.

This can be used to change your opinions and behavior.

It is one of the ways social networks influence everything from which products sell best (suddenly, everybody loves pistachio desserts) to election results.

In addition, platforms analyze your profile and behavior in relation to those of other users like you. This, too, is calculated through code, by comparing information the platform has about you (age, gender, geographic location, opinions, online behavior, and so on) with information about other users. The content that works best to influence you is increasingly recommended to other similar profiles. What you stop consuming gradually disappears from the feeds of all your peers, too. Likewise, the content that reaches you is what has been most effective at holding the attention of other profiles like yours.

Filter Bubbles

Social platforms and other services often talk about personalization, but what they really do is optimization. Recommendation engines are trained to maximize engagement, not truth or anyone’s mental health. They try to predict which content will generate a click, a like, a share, a return visit, or a purchase. The result is a feedback loop: the system learns from our behavior, and then reshapes the environment around us to produce more of the same. More time spent staring at screens.

That is how filter bubbles form. Through ranking. Algorithms decide which content is visible, which is hidden, and which is promoted. If a user interacts more with emotionally charged content, outrage, conspiracy, nostalgia, or narratives that confirm their worldview, the system reinforces those patterns. Over time, the platform creates a personalized stream that feels intimate, but is actually designed to maximize retention.

The real danger is that we are gradually mapped into a psychological profile. The system infers our fears, insecurities, aspirations, impulses, routines, and vulnerabilities. It knows which emotional triggers are most effective for selling us something, making us see more ads, or even changing our opinion about something important. It knows when a notification feels irresistible. It knows when a message will produce action. It optimizes for dependency and coercion.

Addiction

This is why digital products often feel designed to be addictive. They really are. The cadence of rewards is engineered. The timing of notifications is calibrated every time you interact with them, or fail to. The shape of the feed is optimized for cycles of checking, reacting, and returning. The interface becomes a behavioral instrument. It does not manipulate attention through instant information you may not even remember a few minutes later.

You do not surf the internet anymore. The internet surfs you. It is surfing people. It is learning their patterns, reshaping their reality, and turning attention into a resource that can be harvested, measured, and sold.

What now?

Honestly, I don’t know. But I can tell you what I am doing about it.

The first step is to talk about this with the people closest to you. Everyone needs to know that attempts are being made to manipulate our opinions and actions, leaving us increasingly segregated within our filter bubbles and increasingly distant from one another. Speak up about how wrong this is, even if it offers apparent, cost-free benefits (such as a sense of online belonging, quick and easy gratification, likes, and so on).

The cost of these small pleasures is your mind.

This video has always been weird and nonsensical. Now it’s just weird but it makes perfect sense. Open the eyes of your friends, coworkers, and family members. Explain it in simple terms. Send this article, if necessary. But talk about this issue.

Harm reduction

When you are bored, instead of doom scrolling, do something else that is also easy for you to do. Go play some music, read comic books or the book of your choice, crochet something, pray, go play with your dog, do chores, go for a walk, go to the gym. Anything but doom scroll.

Schedule the moments when you go online. A few deliberate sessions on social media are healthier than a near-constant presence almost all day. Use online time with intention. Read longer texts instead of chasing fragments. Have offline hobbies and activities in your free time. Go back to reading books, fiction or otherwise. Study texts that demand attention. Read slowly. Reflect patiently on an idea before forming an opinion about it. Fight the urge to share online everything you think.

Reduce the amount of surveillance around you. Limit the number of connected devices. Turn off unnecessary tracking in browsers and apps. Use privacy-focused tools when possible. The less data the system can collect, the less precise the profile it builds about you becomes.

Make an effort to spend time with people in real life. Put the phone away, leave the screen behind, and meet friends in person. Go talk, walk, eat, sit in silence, and let the conversation be human and messy instead of optimized for engagement. Real relationships do not need a feed, a notification, or a like to be meaningful. They require presence, effort, and time. The more we invest in face-to-face connection, the harder it becomes for a system built on endless digital distraction to shape our attention.

And if spending time online becomes compulsive, do not be ashamed to ask for help. If you feel unable to stop checking your phone, unable to focus on longer texts, videos, or conversations, or if your attention is being quietly colonized, it may be time to seek psychological support. Dependency is real, and it is often disguised as an ordinary habit.

There is still hope

The goal is to stop letting machines think for you, manipulate your opinions, and dumb you down.

Once you’ve done that, there is still time to start using those same machines to make yourself smarter, better informed, and more capable of solving problems that matter to you. Without losing control. Maybe I’ll talk more about this in upcoming posts!

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