Inside Social Media Algorithms: The Essential Guide for Parents and Children
Admit it. Thumb-scrolling Instagram feeds are super fun. So, we really can’t blame our children being glued to smartphones all day, can we? With endless notifications and infinite reasons to scroll, social media platforms thrive by gamifying user experience. So, instead of leaving early, we stick around longer. The real magic is in social media algorithms, which are a rather complex set of calculations to plan and present specific content feeds to users. For children, this can be entertaining, but it can also expose them to several dark sides, like screen addiction, misinformation, body dysmorphia, and even eating disorders. So, as a parent, it’s important to understand social media algorithms, how they work, and what you can do to keep your child safe. What Are Social Media Algorithms? In computing language, algorithms are specific instructions for a computer’s actions, like sorting data elements or identifying objects. Social media algorithms function…