I was at a cafe in Melbourne with a friend on a quiet weekday afternoon when a lovely older woman with silver-speckled hair beside us smiled and complimented my friend’s baby. It felt good to be outside and off my phone for once, away from the algorithm’s usual spewing of vile political takes and feral outbursts that I doomscroll far too often.

As the conversation with my friend lulled, I heard what might have been the words “immigration ruining ...” from the woman’s phone.

A violent rhetoric is spreading online and into the real world. Credit: Andrew Dyson

Terrible, I thought. I’m actually starting to hear things in real life based on what the algorithm keeps feeding me. That’s how deeply the online world seeps into your mind, you start anticipating negativity even in places where it hasn’t arrived yet. Well, not to worry, I told myself. I’m touching grass, the term young people use for getting away from screens.

But then a short while later, the same woman spotted us down the street, pram and baby in tow. She waved us down with an enthusiasm that felt out of place for someone we’d exchanged basic pleasantries with.

“Oh hello, thank god I saw you again – I was kicking myself for not finding you,” she said.

I smiled and........

© The Sydney Morning Herald