Joan is Awful: How Technology Rewires Us? (4/5)
Explore how screens reshape your mind, personality, and reality itself. Discover the hidden psychological shifts of constant digital consumption.
In our ongoing series on digital behavior, we’ve looked at how screens silently influence our actions and decisions. In this blog, we dive into the psychological shifts caused by digital consumption—what it does to our mind, our personality, and even our sense of reality.
How Technology Affects Our Minds
Tamed by the Screen We bark for likes, we scroll for treats, Obeying pings and dopamine feats. They built the code to serve, to aid — But now they dance to what they made. Once masters proud with dreams to steer, Now leashed by tools we engineered. In comfort’s loop, we lost the feel— And slowly gave up the steering wheel.
How Directly Impacts?
In daily life, we outsource basic tasks to technology. We don’t remember phone numbers anymore. We trust the internet blindly.
In many ways, we’ve become slaves to convenience.
How Indirectly Impacts?
1. Intuition:
We don’t fully understand intuition, but we know it's shaped by our surroundings and experiences.
When the screen becomes our dominant source of input, it starts framing our intuitive reactions.
For instance, when constantly exposed to biased content against certain communities, we start trusting people who "look" like us and distrusting others.
Our gut feelings aren’t ours anymore—they’re hijacked by algorithms.
Example: During COVID-19, communal hate messages circulated on WhatsApp led to real-life violence in parts of India. Minds were manipulated without direct orders—just repetitive exposure.
2. Attitude:
We’re overconfident.
With so much information at our fingertips, we feel we know everything. But confidence without doubt becomes arrogance.
Having an opinion is healthy.
But refusing to revise it? That’s where danger begins.
3. Personality:
Algorithms don’t just change what we think—they change who we are.
The content we consume shapes our mannerisms, opinions, and relationships.
Watch only aggressive content, and you may become argumentative. Watch only luxury vlogs, and your definition of “normal” may shift.
Psych Experiment:
Create a new YouTube account.
For 2 weeks, watch only self-help videos.
Then switch and watch only conspiracy content.
You'll find the recommendations — and even your thoughts — morphing.
It feels like you’re living in a different world.
What Can We Do to Stop It?
1. Stop Giving Away Patterns
We often share our preferences just to make life easier. But the more we reveal, the more the algorithms learn—and lock us into a bubble.
In real life, we try alternate routes to test if our usual path is still best. Do the same online.
Disrupt your digital patterns.
2. Use Multiple Portals
This really works.
Create different accounts for different purposes.
One YouTube account for entertainment. Another for self-help. Another for news.
They will recommend drastically different content — even though you’re the same person.
This proves: algorithms don’t understand you. They just reflect what you feed them.
(Disclaimer: This is about curating your own content intake. Do not impersonate others. Catfishing is unethical and illegal.)
3. Stop Clicking Like/Dislike
Each time you click Like or Dislike, the algorithm reinforces that belief.
It doesn't check if you're sure. It just reacts. Soon, you’re in an echo chamber — blind to other views.
Instead, leave a wide, unpredictable trail.
Confuse the algorithm. Keep your mind open.
4. Comfort Is a Trap
After a long day, we seek comfort.
That’s when we’re most vulnerable — our guard is down, and the content seeps in quietly.
Even during relaxation, stay a little mindful.
Choose what you consume. Don’t just drift.
5. Don’t Let TV Decide
Don’t fall for “Recommended for You.” That’s not a friend—it’s a formula.
TV and OTT platforms push what’s easy, not what’s good.
Take back control.
Set time limits. Pick content intentionally.
Hack your mind before someone else does.
Cognizant Decision: Rethinking Digital Influence
In a world shaped by screens, it’s time we asked ourselves:
Who’s really shaping whom?
TV and digital content — especially OTT platforms — have subtly woven themselves into our behaviors, decisions, and even identities.
It’s no longer about what we watch.
It’s about who we become because of it.
Behavioral Shifts
Think about the content you consume today versus a few years ago.
Think about your conversations. The people you've drifted from. The stress that wasn't there before.
Has your media diet altered your baseline behavior?
Decision-Making Influence
Consider your recent decisions.
Compare them to ones you’d have made five years ago under similar circumstances.
Was it growth — or subconscious programming?
Media doesn’t just influence tastes. It rewires judgment.
Impact on the Subconscious
TV works best when we’re most relaxed—when our mental firewall is down.
That’s why ads still run during prime time.
They’re not trying to convince your conscious mind.
They’re trying to slip into the background—quietly but deeply.
Lifestyle Framing
Media makes us feel like we all live on a Karan Johar Film set.
We chase what looks good on screen, not what feels right in life.
Aesthetics replace purpose.
Social validation replaces self-assessment.
The result? Burnout disguised as aspiration.
Distortion of Reality
Just like in Inception Movie, always spin the top.
If a certain group is being villainized online — ask yourself:
Does this match your real-world experience?
If not, it’s likely media distortion.
Fear and negativity draw attention — and media profits from that attention.
But we, as aware individuals, must constantly verify:
Is this truth, or is this clickbait disguised as culture?
When Empathy Becomes Entertainment
Somewhere along the way, we’ve become worse than vultures — feeding on tragedy, even the dead, for likes and shares. We sell sorrow and others’ pain as if it were a tourist attraction. We comment on other people’s lives as if they’re not one of us, as if we don’t belong to the same fragile human story. This growing detachment is no accident — it’s a design of the attention economy. But we still have the power to choose differently.
Neon Dreams
Machines wear flesh and painted skin,
With cheerful masks and neon grin.
Their crowded stage, so bright, alive —
Makes our own world hard to survive.
They sell a life of endless show,
While real rooms fade in silent glow.
Like homes turned dull beside hotels,
We crave the dream, reject ourselves.
What’s Next in the Series?
In the next & Final blog, we’ll shift our lens from individuals to institutions —
How schools, businesses, governments, and media houses are adapting (or failing) in this fast-evolving digital maze.
📌 Follow the series to stay ahead of the algorithm.
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Agree with you.
Couldn’t agree more with number 1. I am actually in the process of wiring a whole article on it!