Remember when you could just post a picture and not worry about the caption?

I was at my cousin's wedding in Austin two years back, and I posted a nice photo of the cake. I wrote something dumb like 'cake time' and moved on. The next morning, my phone was blowing up. The algorithm had somehow linked my post to a huge, angry debate about wedding costs that was trending. My quiet photo got flooded with comments from strangers fighting about money, and a few were just mean. I felt sick. I ended up deleting the whole post, even though I liked the picture. It made me realize the caption isn't just for your friends anymore, it's bait for the machine to sort you into some random viral argument. Now I overthink every single word I type. Has anyone else had a normal post get pulled into a fight they never wanted?

3 comments

3 Comments

owens.jenny17d ago

That is the worst feeling. It happened to me with a picture of my dog on a new rug. Just a simple "cozy boy" caption. Somehow it got pushed into a feed about "pet privilege" and people started fighting about spending money on animals. My sweet old dog! It's like the app looks for any word to start a fire. Now I stare at the caption box forever, trying to guess what landmine I might step on. Totally ruins the fun of just sharing stuff.

ramirez.vera17d ago

Ugh, I actually have the opposite problem! I feel like the algorithm buries my normal stuff, so sometimes I WANT a little drama to get my art seen. That sounds awful for you and @owens.jenny though, getting dragged into fights. Maybe we're all just typing for the robot now, not for people. I try to just post what I feel and ignore the noise, but it's hard when your nice moment gets stolen.

holly70916d ago

Forget trying to guess the algorithm. Start posting things that only make sense to your real friends, like inside jokes or super specific memories. The bots won't know how to push that into a fight, but your people will get it. Does that help take the pressure off?