True, but I also think the romanticization of depression is a factor as well. Just look at "Doomer" culture on the internet, or "black pill" types. Watch one of those videos on youtube, and all of a sudden you get a deluge of those types of vids. That is what I fear for future generations. When depression is seen as an aesthetic, some people(mostly teenagers) try to identify with it and accidentally end up depressed for real.
For most people, it is more complex than that. However this is a trend that I worry about.
You can (and IMO should) disable youtube suggestions based on your past browsing. You can also have it only store 3 months worth of tracking (in case you ever turn the suggestions back on).
It definitely lowers the quality of the suggestions... but that's kind of the point.
I take it one step farther and only watch YouTube in a private session and don't log in. When the recommendations get strange, I close the window and open a new one.
It's important to realize where doomer culture came from. It largely began as a response to feel good messages which were decorating the truth of things at the benefit of no one.
The main issue being, doomer culture can be embraced as a way to accept things that are beyond your power and double efforts on what you can change, or as a way to toss away all efforts and be in a perpetual state of not caring. It also serves as a counter to society continuing to polish turds.
Does no one remember goths? Or before them, whatever the '80s subculture around gloomy New Wave bands like Joy Division, Depeche Mode, or New Order were called? And before them, the punk movement that was a reaction against the carefree utopianism of the hippies? Rockers? Greasers? Romanticism?
Yeah, the over-romanticizing of mental illness, and how prevalent it is thanks to always-on digital culture, is a real concern. But historically, there are always subcultures centered on unhappy and negative emotions, in contrast to the subcultures that focus on happy and positive ones.
I agree, but back then they didn't have algorithms based on online activity to fuel the spiral. What we are getting is that, but worse because it is harder to escape
For most people, it is more complex than that. However this is a trend that I worry about.