Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Haroon Aslam

Hi, I’m Haroon. I’m a little different. I don’t fit well in to stereotypes. I’m an engineer that spends endless time loving design details and artistry. I write short stories and love literature, and frequently dabble in logic and algorithms. The problem is, that the world isn’t setup to handle these juxtapositions very well. From conversations about political tampering to dating fatigue in an overly connected world, there’s a broader underpinning between these and many more stories. We are being organized to walk down pre-selected, narrower paths — chosen by an algorithm.

The Problem

This post is inspired by a recent episode of the TED Radio Hour called “Can We Trust The Numbers”. The podcast discusses the bias that designers of algorithms and AI will embed in to their logic. It’s a dangerous idea, and an excellent podcast. Listen here: https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/580617765/can-we-trust-the-numbers

The Setup

Twitter makes me see posts most people like. What if most people are idiots? Instagram makes me see posts I usually like. What if I’m an idiot? Let’s not even get started on Facebook. At some point, we reached an overload of information — and the immediate design response was to show people only the information that an algorithm determines to be relevant. Fair, but the hidden impact of how it is reinforcing biases is profound. We may think these tools are opening our minds, but really they are putting an impenetrable bubble around the thoughts you already have.

You may think these tools are opening our minds, but really they are putting an impenetrable bubble around the thoughts you already have.

I live in an industry that is obsessed with the word “personalization”. If we know who you are (i.e. the data points that define you), then let’s show you things that people like you like to see. This is happening on almost every website you visit, through to the ads you see.

There’s an increasing rumbling in the relationship realm. Tinder and Bumble were wonderful a few years ago, opened up connections that could never have happened. But then, millions of people adopted the platform, hundreds of more apps showed up… once again we got too many choices, and the response was algorithms. I look a certain way, and I get served up to certain types of people that usually like people like me. Let that sink in for a second.

The Ideas

None of these ideas are new, as a storyteller I wanted to share an idea about editing out the data in your life. You can’t change the information that the world is serving up to you, but you can change how you behave in it.

Open to New Ideas: Be someone that starts a new conversation, rather than reinforces the ones everyone is already having. Make it a point to look beyond your data bubble. Delete the shortcuts to apps you know you overuse, so you break the habit of unlocking your phone and checking the same thing over and over again. Give your mind room, and use that to invest back in to new concepts. Podcasts, and Medium, are two great ways to hear new ideas.
Open to New People: Post less to everyone, and share more with the people who matter. Try using Instagram to have conversations. Eliminate the redundancies in your life, ask yourself why you follow 20 beauty or nature accounts, instead of just 5. Think about how meaningless a passive like is, and how meaningful a compliment is.

These have helped me tune back in to fewer, more interesting, and more fulfilling ideas and people. I hope it helps you.

Photo by Natalia Y on Unsplash

<a href="https://medium.com/media/b85dfbb5286d8a25cf2e754b9462cf45/href">https://medium.com/media/b85dfbb5286d8a25cf2e754b9462cf45/href</a>

A Love Story: How Algorithm’s (almost) Stole My Life was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A Love Story: How Algorithm’s (almost) Stole My Life

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