How to teach Facebook to deliver content for the mindset you want
How to get Facebook to improve its effect on your mindset
Most of us know by now that Facebook does what it can to get information about us and then deliver interest-specific content. But do you know how this defined information can impact your mindset?
In 2015 when I was recovering from the trauma I was still engaging with people on Facebook. As someone who only accesses the news via Facebook & Apple News, I often saw news articles online and rarely in any other format. What I didn’t know was that Facebook would use this information to deliver articles that would trigger off PTSD I had acquired from rape.
Like most people who experience difficult things in life when you tend to find news articles on them, it is extremely difficult not to comment on these articles. For about 2 months directly after I was raped I remember seeing about 10 articles per week about rapes that occurred in London. I still distinctly remember an online article, and my ferocious reaction, about a 7-year girl getting gang-raped in London. Unable to hold me back from commenting on these posts Facebook kept delivering me the same sh*t every day. After a while (and through engaging with business learning posts on Pinterest) I discovered that Facebook was delivering me the same articles I commented on a regular basis as if I was ‘interested in them.’ Facebook was exacerbating my PTSD.
To prove my newfound knowledge I decided to start following pages, people, groups that were all about positive psychology, the law of attraction, growth mindsets, motivation, overcoming adversity, and more. Just as I suspected the articles I once commented on, about atrociously heinous crimes, stopped occurring in my news feed. For about 3 more months I made it my mission to continue doing what I had tested out. I told Facebook what I wanted it to do FOR ME.
No longer was Facebook going to tell me that I had to bathe in articles about assholes who (in my opinion) need the death penalty. No longer was Facebook going to try and take control of my health, my mind. This was a pivotal moment for me because Facebook was a place where I went to, to talk to friends and family, and gain support. It had become a place I wanted to avoid or if I couldn’t I had become sadly accustomed to knowing that it would continually trigger me at any moment it decided to. Now, 3 and a half years on I very rarely see these articles, I have even read articles about rape. While I will never accept the lack of effort courts play in holding these perpetrators to account for their crimes or the pathetic excuse for sentencing more than often male judges place on male perpetrators as an attempt to give closure for women suffering I am pleased to have control of a platform that is so frequently discussed for controlling us.
I felt it was important to share for individuals who have gone through similar traumas and especially for those parents who have teenage children. Encourage your children to follow positive posts, groups, pages so that the negatives are DROWNED OUT. Use the Law of Attraction to help your mindset move forward. Tell Facebook’s algorithm that it can only provide you with quality and do it on a regular basis. Social media should always work FOR the US and not against us.
I hope this helps many people who find social media to be quite a daunting space to network in. I’ll always be passionate about how women should be treated, I don’t think that will ever change, after all, I wasn’t really different before I was attacked but I can happily say I really enjoy using Facebook now. As long as I stay committed to telling it what I want to see I’m sure these emotions will stay the same.
Have you ever noticed the same thing that I have?
How did it help your mindset?
