The quest for wisdom has been a human endeavor for centuries. The earliest iteration of the advice column, a 17th-century London newspaper called The Athenian Mercury, proves that seeking guidance from strangers is an act that predates the modern social media landscape.When did life advice get so unhinged?
Since 1691, people have been asking strangers how to meet a potential partner, why some people hate olives, how to handle tense relationships with in-laws, if it's "proper for women to be learned," and even what love is. While the earliest advice columns were written by men, reinforcing traditional visions of white masculinity and femininity, by the 19th century, the advice column was re-imagined by women’s magazines as a conversation between friends.
Today, however, the internet has created a new ecosystem where everyone and anyone can offer advice. But in recent years, there's been a concerning shift towards actively avoiding expert advice and deferring to public opinion on how to get the fastest, most extreme results.
The search for advice online is no longer about rounded, reasonable guidance but about obscure hacks that few people have heard of. On TikTok, users are asking for the most "unhinged way" to achieve a goal, like moving in with a partner, dealing with a co-worker, getting over a hangover, or managing ADHD without medication.The "Unhinged" Hack Trend on TikTok
Weight loss forums on Reddit share ED-coded advice for slimming down, while beauty enthusiasts share their most diabolical, irrational, and disturbing satanic ways of getting rich. The unchecked advice often targets women.
Algorithmic extremism skews our perception of what constitutes as good advice. According to Kaitlyn Regehr, a professor of digital humanities at University College London, the financial structures that govern social media prioritize anything that attracts attention, including hate, harm, disinformation, and extreme content.The Impact of Algorithmic Extremism
"We're not actually the consumers of social media; we are the product, or rather, our time and attention are the product being sold to advertisers," Regehr says. "This approach fuels political polarization and impacts how we perceive our day-to-day lives and relationships."
"In recent times, societies composed of families have become increasingly nuclear and are not engaging at the family, social, and community levels," says Soumya Awasthi, a fellow at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. "There is a crumbling value system, ethos, and a lack of checks and balances in interpersonal relations."The Crumbling Value System
Nuance is often forgone in favor of viral outrage, and extreme content may not appear extreme at first glance. As we continue to be algorithmically offered or fed content through recommendations, instead of actively searching out, Clive Thompson notes that advice on the internet has gone from being fairly commonsensical or tame to advice that pushes buttons.
"A calm world would reward realistic advice, stuff that you can actually act on," says Thompson. "But newer algorithms rely less on building creators' profiles and supplying calm, regular updates and more on one-and-done, extremely uncalm viral videos."The Need for Nuanced Advice
Thompson notes that we've entered a realm where advice is often entertainment rather than practical. Regehr agrees, saying that extreme voices are overrepresented in algorithms, making them seem more prevalent than they really are.
"Extreme content often uses emotionally charged language, oversimplifies complex issues, and presents binary, us-versus-them narratives," says Awasthi. But it's not always obvious.The Importance of Critical Thinking
Regehr advises that we should be sharing the content we consume with those in our lives that we trust, rather than relying on likes and engagement as a measure of whether something is good advice. Thompson adds that we need to engage with a wide range of voices and follow nuanced opinions.
"If you value nuanced opinions, it's worth getting on the offense by deliberately engaging with a wide span of content," says Regehr. "Instead of using likes and engagement as a measure of whether something is good advice, have a conversation with the person next to you."A Call to Action
"Extreme voices are overrepresented in algorithms that make them seem more prevalent than they really are," Regehr notes. By being aware of this bias and taking steps to counter it, we can create a more informed and critically thinking online community.