Social media algorithms are neutral tools, but they can direct your attention in ways you didn’t anticipate.

The way you engage with these algorithms can expose you to relationship content that’s misinformative.

Learning to diversify the content you’re shown can help you take back control of your feed.

Co-authored by Nick Lane

This is Part 3 of a three-part series.

It’s well established that what we see on social media can shape the way we think about relationships. What we didn’t know when we began this series was whether social media could have something to do with why so many people are choosing to opt out of dating and relationships altogether. In our first post on this topic, we uncovered differences in the content that men and women were exposed to in their feeds. In our second post, we explored the potential for divisiveness created by the types of relationship misinformation we encountered. Now, we want you to know that you aren’t at the mercy of what your algorithm is showing you. In this final post, we’ll share ways you can gain a new perspective on relationships by breaking out of the algorithmic echo chamber that we’ve described.

Understanding Your Algorithm

An algorithm is a tool. We often forget that. It’s not inherently good or bad. An algorithm is specifically designed to provide an individualized user experience. Regardless of whether it's positive or negative, an algorithm is simply doing its job by showing you things that capture your attention. It operates by using some combination of collaborative or content-based filtering, which makes recommendations based on........

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