The algorithms of anger
- hairless17
- Jan 15
- 3 min read
Many of us have become zombified and manipulated by social media, the internet, radio, and television (or rather, by those behind them). Those who suffer the most are our teenagers and children who don't know how to live with or without their influence.
We are living in an era of international conflicts that we haven't seen since the end of the Second World War. Myself haven't experienced any. However it's an era where war and conflict are heavily covered by the media because they are so profitable in terms of audience ratings. What is it behind the dissemination of these images (I'm not talking about journalists here) of anguish, anger, frustration, death, injustice, and extreme violence? Is it to control our emotions, to prevent us from feeling compassion, from stepping back to see the true motivations behind a conflict, and from keeping a cool head despite the situation?
These constant exposure to mostly violent news, not just on social media, but also on buses, radio, TV, and now even in elevators (it's crazy!). It's deliberate and pure harassment and mind-control.
What happens in the human brain after two, three hours or more of relentless bombardment with images of violence, suffering, and fear, especially when our lives are hardly a model of happiness, peace, and prosperity? I'm thinking of the incitement to hatred by right-wing extremists like the Nazis. Plus addiction, if you can't control your emotional estates you are sort of addicted to it. You will always need more to get a high.
This is making our children and teenagers sick. I say this from personal experience. Once our children are affected by mental illness or depression, we find that the healthcare system in our Western countries can do almost nothing. The waiting list to see a child psychiatrist takes about a year. What do we do in the meantime?
On Monday, July 14, 2025, the European Commission unveiled guidelines intended to redefine the responsibilities of digital platforms, particularly social media. These new rules will allow member states to set a minimum age for accessing social networks, likely to be 15. France, which has been advocating for these advancements behind the scenes since 2022, sees this as a major victory in realizing its ambitions for digital protection. But it is up to us, parents and teachers, to be alert to changes in the behavior or sense of humor of children and teenagers.
Understanding others' anger, understanding one's own anger, having compassion, letting them express themselves, finding help, going out into nature, playing, dancing, singing, and laughing can all be very helpful. In my daughter's case: art, painting, music, drawing, sewing, changing schools, seeing a psychologist, and her own withdrawal from social media were all very helpful.
The Sanskrit word Ahimsa, which dates back to the 5th century BC, means non-violence and respect for all forms of life. It implies not causing suffering, through physical and/or emotional violence, to any living being, whether direct or indirect.
Mahatma Gandhi was a great follower of this philosophy, which had succeeded in liberating India from British occupation without using violence or weapons.
I leave you with this beautiful quote, and I hope it resonates with you all. Mahatma Gandhi left us an unfinished autobiography, and his life has been portrayed on the big screen several times, such as in Richard Attenborough's 1982 film.
I would add to this reflection Morpheus's prophetic warning in the first Matrix film: "Individuals are irrevocably caught in the system where most are not ready to be unplugged. They are so unaware and desperately dependent on the system that they will even fight to defend it." Don't you think the message of this film was so powerful that Matrix 2 and 3 were censored?
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