“We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.”
– Marshall McLuhan
We all kind of know it. But we don’t really say it out loud.
We’re gaming the system. And not just once in a while. It’s become a habit. A way of doing things online. Every blog post, every tweet, every YouTube video, we’re constantly thinking, “How do I make the algorithm like this?”
At first, it sounded smart. Strategic even. Use the right keywords, drop a couple of hashtags, post at peak times, craft a title that sounds like it’s from BuzzFeed’s golden age. But somewhere along the way, it stopped being about the work and became all about the play.
I’ve seen blog posts that rank #1 on Google that say absolutely nothing. Just keyword salad with a side of fluff. No insight, no experience, just.. filler wrapped in headers. But hey, it checks all the SEO boxes, so the system loves it.
Same with YouTube. A friend of mine spent weeks working on a meaningful, technical deep dive. It flopped. Not because it was bad, but because it didn’t have the perfect thumbnail, the catchy title, or some 15-second build-up to “hook the viewer”. Meanwhile, someone else posts “JavaScript Hacks You Wish You Knew” with a stock thumbnail and a loud intro, and boom… Viral.
We’ve gotten really good at pleasing the machines. Almost too good.
The internet was supposed to be a library. We turned it into a billboard
And don’t get me wrong, algorithms aren’t the villain here. They’re doing what they were built to do - prioritize engagement, structure, retention. But it’s us, the humans, who figured out the shortcuts and started milking it. We turned “optimizing” into a business model. We made entire courses about “cracking the code” instead of just making good stuff.
Sometimes it feels like we’re all actors in this weird digital world. We seek to constantly perform for an invisible algorithmic audience. Crafting tweets that are just controversial enough. Uploading videos on that day because “stats say Thursdays are best”.
It’s wild.
We wanted to connect. Now we just perform. At some point, we stopped posting and started optimizing.
I think what bothers me isn’t just that we do it. It’s that we normalize it. We act like it’s the only way. Like creating something with heart, or curiosity, or quiet honesty isn’t good enough anymore, unless it performs.
That’s what this whole thing has become. Not creating, but performing.
And yeah, I’ve played the game too. I’ve added meta tags. Rewritten titles. Chased views. It works. But every time I lean too far into it, I feel a bit fake. Like I’m not writing for a person, I’m writing for a robot with ranking powers.
I don’t think the answer is to completely ignore algorithms. That’s just yelling into the void. But maybe we need to stop obsessing over them. Maybe it’s okay to let a good post live quietly. Maybe not every tweet needs a “hook”. Maybe we create stuff because it matters to us first and if it reaches people, great. If not, also fine.
We didn’t come here to build things just to chase clicks. We came here to say something. Share something. Code something. Teach something. That’s what made the internet cool in the first place. Random people making meaningful things. True beauty.
When attention becomes currency, authenticity becomes expensive
Let’s not forget that.
