/lit/ - Literature

I've been deepening my understanding of big tech's usage of algorithms, addiction design and catering to people's interests lately, and I keep becoming more cynical and disconnected over the months. I've already deleted twitter and reddit accounts, got rid of my smartphone in favour of an old Nokia etc.

But I feel like I'm becoming too much of a cynic. I'm very partial to the concept of being a critical thinker and carving my own path. I mean, for god's sake, if you're in socialist circles and you Google 'Capital should be...' it autofills with 'redustributed', if you're in more right-wing circles the autofill would complete with 'taxed less'. How is critical thinking even possible for the human that's unaware of (or aware but disregarding) the fact that this happens? I'm starting to piece together this worldview that many of the current social phenomena of riots, insurrection, heck, even genocide in some areas of the world, can be ascribed to what algorithms are doing to our patterns of thinking. Monke brain is powerful, and big tech is making it take over.

I'm not blaming big tech or seeing any conspiracy here. I'm of the opinion that tech companies like Facebook, Amazon and Google genuinely started developing their offerings to make the world an easier, better place. This 'monster' has grown organically from it.

So, to get to my point; does /lit/ also see this phenomenon, or are you at least somewhat worried about it? And if so, what do you do/read to not become a cynical shutout? I have a whole bunch of normalfag friends and even a gf, but I feel like I'm distancing myself from them a lot, because it appears that I'm on such a different technological paradigm than them. I'm seeking a cope to not view the world around with disgust and not lose the relationships that are still meaningful to me because I'm memeing myself into a particular worldview. Any book recs would be appreciated.

And yeah, forgive my rambling. I posted this kinda stream-of-conciousness-y.