At the time I noticed I was consuming information in the same way people watch TV. Upon shutting my laptop, I’d think “what do I remember from the last two hours of browsing?” barely anything registered, and what registered wasn’t even relevant or useful. A detox was in order, and I blocked anything that I deemed a distraction.

Though I yearn the old times when we crafted our own timeline through indie blogs and feed readers, I admit this age is different. With cautious steps I come back to social media, and I see that by default it’s laced with nicotine, which in low doses is sticky, but in large doses is toxic. Be inequivocal to the algorithm: block and unfollow anything and anyone that doesn’t add to your life, and pour into it things which are authentically you, not echoes of other people’s thoughts and actions.

Some might say this is unwise in the light of Facebook’s privacy misshaps, and they wouldn’t be wrong. It is useful to imagine a shady character without morality or ethics stalking you 24/7, willing to sell whatever they can dig from you to the highest bidder. This wouldn’t be too far off from the actual algorithm, but people construe it as an evil comitee headed by Mark Zuckerberg, when it’s simply the shadow of capitalism.