Digital Addiction and Surveillance Capitalism: How Social Media Algorithms Manipulate Minds and Reshape Society
A tiny red notification blinked—a beacon in the vast digital ocean. Another like. Another comment. In that brief surge of dopamine, I felt validated, connected—even if only momentarily. This was my everyday reality: a curated feed of perfect moments and carefully crafted narratives. Like millions of others, I was trapped in an algorithmic labyrinth, a maze deliberately designed to keep us endlessly engaged. I’m not claiming clinical addiction, but the pull was undeniable. The compulsive checking, the anxiety over a post’s performance, the nagging fear of missing out—each was a reminder that my brain had been subtly rewired by the engineers behind these platforms. The facts are stark. Companies like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok did not stumble upon this phenomenon by accident; they engineered it. Through relentless A/B testing and data analysis, they discovered how to hook us. They exploited the power of intermittent reinforcement—the unpredictable reward of a like or a share—ke...
