Ah, the word haunting all of us: algorithm. What exactly is it? How does it work? When does it help? When does it become a problem? I’m going to do a “flyover” explanation of these ideas, but I’ll put links below so you can study them in more detail.
What is an algorithm? A simple definition is that an algorithm is a set of rules or “instructions for solving a problem or completing a task” (Kitthu, 2025). These instructions help a computer perform a job. Just like we need a list of instructions to do something new, an algorithm needs a list of rules to follow to reach a result. Ultimately, what we know as artificial intelligence is just a bunch of smart algorithms (Rainie & Anderson, 2017).
How does an algorithm work? Kitthu (2025) says that an algorithm uses data or information someone enters, and the algorithm processes it using the rules to yield an answer. If you’re following a recipe, you will have a set of ingredients to use. Think of the rules as the recipe. It tells you how much of each ingredient to use and how to mix them to create the end result.
I’m oversimplifying the definitions here for a reason.
An algorithm does not invent itself. It is created by humans entering rules into a computer system. The algorithm can get better over time at answering the question based on new instructions it is given. There isn’t just one kind of algorithm either because they are used for many different tasks (Kitthu, 2025). Just don’t miss the point. Algorithms are created by humans, and they only operate as well as they are taught to operate.
Algorithms can be very helpful. When we search for a recipe online, an algorithm doesn’t just present us with one option. It goes out and captures a variety of options. If you search for an ice cream recipe, it will give you options such as recipes that have to be churned, no churn recipes, sugar free recipes, frozen yogurt ideas, and recipes for other frozen confections. Everything from email to online dating apps to GPS mapping directions function via algorithms (Rainie & Anderson, 2017). They assist in banking, government operations, healthcare, and scientific research, and they make positive impacts in those sectors.
However, there are some potential drawbacks to algorithms. Rainie and Anderson address this in detail through a Pew Research article you can access through the link below. Today, let’s talk about things that may have happened to us while we’ve been searching online.
In 2022, I was beginning to use YouTube quite a bit to find instructional videos on crochet, new recipes, and soapmaking. For the most part, YouTube’s search algorithm fed that same content into my daily feed, but every now and then, I would apparently throw it for a loop by searching for something unexpected. Suddenly, YouTube would go nuts. Instead of crochet, recipes, and soapmaking, my feed would be full of this idea I had searched for one time.
In the beginning, this was just annoying. I would find things in my feed I didn’t want just because of a single search, but then it took a more unpleasant turn. As the social and political moods shifted, I would occasionally search a topic to understand the perspectives of other people. YouTube’s search algorithm took this as a sign that I now had a new opinion, and therefore, I must want to see many more videos about the subject. Bit by bit, I began to click on these videos and would find myself sucked into the void. After several months, I began to wonder why I was on the edge of angry all the time. It was an unpleasant place to find myself. Asking myself where all the anger was coming from made me examine what I had been doing differently, and I finally realized I was watching all these videos on YouTube that were full of negative emotions. I had been captured by YouTube’s search algorithm, and I needed to figure out how to get out again.
At first, I simply scrolled past these negative videos when they popped up in my daily feed, but after a while, I got tired of even seeing them so I looked at YouTube’s options. I realize now that I needed to educate the algorithm better by telling it what I did and didn’t want to see, but at the time, I didn’t realize I needed to do that. I just thought it wouldn’t suggest the topic anymore if I didn’t search it anymore. Instead, I needed to tell it what to do. I needed to give it “instructions or rules” so it wouldn’t give me information I didn’t want. YouTube has a couple of options that I have benefited from since then. When a video pops up in my feed that I don’t want to watch or see again, I can tell it that I’m “not interested” or “don’t recommend channel.” If I’m really concerned about the content, I can even report it for violating the community guidelines. YouTube even gives you an option occasionally to tell it what topics you are most interested in seeing video suggestions about, and I try to take advantage of it. If I ever search for an unusual topic, I will often quickly tell YouTube I’m not interested in any videos of that subject if they try to suggest them again. I’m proactive about telling YouTube my interests so that the algorithm keeps up with my preferences.
You will find this algorithm issue with social media platforms, search engines, and other sources. You have to take the time to educate the algorithm so it won’t keep suggesting things you don’t want to see. This means we need to be active participants in our media consumption, or we will be “captured by an algorithm” which believes we are more interested in a subject than we really are.
Last year, I briefly experimented with performing online tasks which ultimately would be used to educate algorithms. This was when I really began to understand how well or poorly algorithms could function based on the abilities of the people educating the algorithms. When various AI functions were rolled out, I noticed a steep decline in the quality of search engine results on major platforms. It all clicked into place. If the algorithms weren’t told to focus on quality sources, then the results would lack legitimate information, and I’ve seen that happen many times since then. The simple reality is that algorithms aren’t always being educated sufficiently, and the results in search engines are a prime example.
Algorithms have a lot of influence over the information we see. That places the responsibility on our own shoulders for checking and double-checking the validity of sources. Furthermore, it means we need to be aware of what we access and how that influences a search algorithm. If you notice an unusual number of sources on a topic showing up in your feed, take the time to educate the platform you are using so it understands not to give you so much information on a topic. An algorithm shouldn’t replace our own thought processes or reduce our ability to evaluate search results. Don’t get so captured by the algorithm that it tells you where you are intellectually instead of you figuring it out for yourself.
References:
Kitthu, Haroon Ahamed. (2025). What is An Algorithm? Definition, Working, and Types. Simplilearn. https://www.simplilearn.com/tutorials/data-structure-tutorial/what-is-an-algorithm
Rainie, Lee and Anderson, Janna. (2017, February 8). Code-Dependent: Pros and Cons of the Algorithm Age. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/02/08/code-dependent-pros-and-cons-of-the-algorithm-age/
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And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32, NKJV)
All Things Subject to Change 