in 1993, the internet barely existed. fast forward thirty years and more than five billion of us spend trillions of collective hours living and working online. yet, this expansive digital universe we explore day after day isn’t a shared experience, it is meticulously customised for each and everyone of us
every advert that pops up, every political story, who we interact with, the products and services that are suggested, even the news we’re exposed to, it’s all been tailored specifically to what the algorithms predict we’re likely to respond to. no two people see exactly the same things online, but paradoxically, we’re no different to anyone else, in that we’re all occupying and curating our own unique, tiny space online
the algorithms of social media mean that you are constantly presented with more of what you look at. it acts as an echo chamber, showing you more ’evidence’ to corroborate any flawed beliefs or assumptions. the level of interest an algorithm thinks you’re likely to show in any given news report, is not a meaningful gauge of how important it actually is. when we’re scrolling and tapping around our social platforms of choice, we’re discovering and settling into subcultures that can be both comfortable and also alarming.
the algorithms are designed to gain more user engagement in any way possible, which includes creating discord, instigating conflict and rewarding outrage. and once it finds out what pisses you off, it runs with it, showing you more and more content to feed that anger and resentment. amid today’s cacophony of information, the easiest way to get attention is to provoke and enrage and as such, being offended and outraged are, for many millions of people the everyday experience of life online
“once these algorithms know you better than you know yourself, they can control and manipulate you and you won’t be able to do much about it” – Yuval Noah Harari
this is where rewind is proudly different, hidden away from any manipulative algorithms. unlike most other online apps and platforms, it doesn’t serve you a customised reality and encourages authenticity in return. rewind does not (and will not) analyse your profile or content for commercial gain, or inundate your timeline with targeted adverts. instead, it’s a blank canvas for you to paint your life story, unfiltered and genuine, away from all the noise