Algorithmic Warfare
The Social Platforms’ Attack on Your Mind and Reclaiming Cognitive Sovereignty
We are constantly under fire from all directions.
Regardless of which platforms you use, your mind is operating in a hostile environment. Information is being fired at us at a velocity far greater than anything we were ever designed to process, and much of it barely qualifies as information at all.
The feeds are engineered to overwhelm, distract, and hook you, and over time, that constant assault degrades how you think, focus, and live.
Every major platform has moved further in this direction over the past few years. The goal is simple: keep you on platform for longer. Counterintuitively, that incentive pushes everything toward shorter, faster, and more stimulating content. The success of TikTok accelerated this shift, with Instagram, X, and YouTube all embracing short form at a greater rate.
Over time, the intensity increases and the assault on your mind amplifies.
I’ve experienced this firsthand, and I suspect you have too. These platforms degrade the ability to think clearly, retain focus, and exercise sound judgment. I feel it in myself. My thoughts are more scattered, and sustained attention is harder. And this wasn’t something that developed overnight. It compounded over time.
Long-Term Cognitive Atrophy
Constant exposure to high-velocity, engagement-optimized content trains the brain to crave stimulation and makes it harder to engage with longer-form ideas.
Over time, this degrades our attention, thinking becomes scattered, and sustaining focus requires more effort. It creates a persistent itch to check the phone, to scroll, to see what’s next. I, like all of you, deal with this on a daily basis.
There are broader social consequences here that I won’t fully explore in this article, but at an individual level, the cognitive atrophy is real. An environment dominated by short-form content reduces both the opportunity and the capacity for deep thinking.
The Compounding Theft of Time
Our phones fill every gap now. A few minutes waiting in line. A short break during the day. Time in the bathroom. Five minutes here and there that feel insignificant on their own. For most, those minutes compound into several hours a day. Then several days of the year. And then several years of your life.
For many people, social media becomes one of the largest time expenditures in their lives. And that time comes from somewhere. It comes from time with family and friends, building a business, learning a new hobby, or simply being present. Instead, those hours are diverted into passive consumption that is harming you.
A few minutes here and there, compounded into hours a day may not feel dramatic in the moment. Over a decade, it becomes thousands of hours. That is a significant amount of time you’ll never get back.
Living Inside the Feed
On X (formerly known as Twitter), the default experience prioritizes a “For You” feed rather than the people you intentionally follow. Content is surfaced based on engagement and virality, often because it triggers strong emotional responses or captures attention quickly. This is the platform I know the best, because it’s the one I use the most.
To a degree, there is real utility there for me. It helps me stay aware of financial markets, industry news, and ideas that I will use for my podcast or inspire topics to write about. But at the same time, it’s designed to pull me in. On days when I check it early in the day, I can feel the difference. Less clarity at work. Less motivation. A noticeable decline in productivity and focus. That initial check creates a nagging urge to keep checking throughout the day. It sets the tone for the day in a way that’s hard to ignore.
Instagram is a mental drain in another way, but harmful nonetheless. I deleted it over 5 years ago because it added very little to my life. And the emotions it consistently surfaced were envy, inadequacy, and comparison. That pattern is especially visible among teenagers and young adults, where rising rates of anxiety and depression closely track the adoption of these platforms during adolescence.
Another layer sits underneath all of this: the physical environment. Smartphones and computers emit artificial blue light. As the sun sets, that light interferes with circadian rhythms, sleep quality, and recovery. The same devices delivering endless content are also disrupting the biological systems responsible for rest, focus, and emotional regulation. A topic for another day.
Rebuilding a Sound Mind
So what do you do about it?
For me, rebuilding a sound mind starts with intentionality. This year, I’m focused on being far more deliberate with my consumption. Easier said than done, especially when the platforms are professionally designed and optimized against intentional use.
But the even more important goal and theme of this year for me is to CREATE rather than CONSUME.
You see that play out every week when I publish an article here, so hold me to it. Writing is one way of choosing creation over short-form consumption.
But creation doesn’t have to be writing. It can be any creative outlet that helps you synthesize your thoughts and express them in your own way. It can also mean creating memories with your family, scheduling time together, planning trips, or simply being more present. It can mean building skills, pursuing a hobby, or having deeper conversations.
It also means choosing long-form over short-form. Reading something longer than a few hundred characters. Engaging your mind rather than reacting to whatever the algorithm serves up next that has no importance or relevance to you.
This newsletter exists as a small act of practicing that philosophy. It’s my way of pushing back against the constant warfare on my attention. I’d encourage you to find or build an outlet that serves the same purpose for you.
Attention is finite. Where you place it compounds over time.
If you found this valuable, feel free to share it with someone who might benefit. I send one of these each week.
Signals Worth Your Time
Ideas, conversations, and work that shaped how I’m thinking this week.
Morgan Stanley & Bank of America Signal a New Bitcoin Era
My latest episode of The Last Trade, where I cover the convergence of Bitcoin, traditional markets, and culture.
Wall Street’s largest firms are positioning themselves more deliberately around Bitcoin, signaling a shift away from the familiar four-year cycle and toward a structurally different market regime.
New dietary guidelines were released by the United States government. You don’t need the government to tell you what to eat, but guidance that emphasizes nutrient-dense, whole foods and moves away from the food pyramid many of us grew up with is a step in the right direction.
This is the article that started it all for me. For anyone still working up the curve on Bitcoin, trying to understand its fundamentals and place in the world from a historical perspective, this piece remains one of the clearest and most compelling starting points.