Are Algorithms Destroying Childhood Curiosity?

Again, many of these issues come back to parenting — but at a macro level, yes, they might be.

The YouTube recommendation algorithm is, in some ways, the most powerful concept in the world. If not for that, a dorky kid from North Carolina named Jimmy Donaldson would never been known outside of his neighborhood. Instead, because of that and his video-making acumen, he’s Mr. Beast and internationally-known. If you ever watch the YouTube show Breaking Points, the hosts readily admit they’d have no careers if not for the algorithmic recommendation engine that YouTube crafted. You could say the same thing about certain people for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, et al. Algorithms are obviously powerful when coded right, but — and I think we mostly know this by now — also dangerous in terms of curating specific content for people, which can herd us into like-minded pens where we lose empathy for the other side of an issue. Since algorithms want you to stay engaged and active, they can also feed you nasty, disgusting, polarizing crap that makes you angry, and thus keeps you on-site — the better to serve ads to, my precious.

We’ve long known algorithms and tech platforms in general are not great for young kids, who have impressionable brains, tons of peer pressure to fit in, and parents…