How to "CON-PHUSE" Social Media Algorithms!

One day I decided to test social media algorithms properly. I went on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, and liked around 10–15 posts on just one topic: street food. Pav bhaji, momos, dosa, chai, biryani—bas jo bhi yummy dikha, I hit like.

And then… bhai, algorithm went full overtime.

My Facebook feed started looking like a food court. Instagram Discover was all cheese-pull reels and “secret café in your city” videos. YouTube started recommending “₹50 vs ₹5,000 Biryani,” food challenges, and “Top 10 hidden food joints.” At one point, I felt I wasn’t watching food anymore—food was watching me.

That’s how these platforms work. They don’t only notice what you like. They watch what you pause on, what you watch till the end, what you comment on, what you share, and even what makes you stop scrolling for a few extra seconds. Like button is just the trailer; your whole behaviour is the full movie.

On Facebook, I liked one biryani meme. Next thing I know, Facebook was showing me restaurant posts, food groups, cooking videos, and “Tag your biryani partner” memes. Facebook basically decided: “This person’s personality is 70% rice.”

Instagram is even more sharp. I watched a few cooking reels till the end and suddenly my Explore page was full of air-fryer hacks, cloud-kitchen advice, avocado toast tutorials and recipe creators. Bhai, I only wanted to see anda bhurji. Instagram was ready to make me a MasterChef contestant.

YouTube is like that overenthusiastic colony uncle. Tell him once you are preparing for UPSC, and he will tell every person in the building. I watched one street-food vlog and YouTube started serving food history, restaurant business stories, food documentaries and people eating pani puri for 24 hours. Research level NASA ka, topic golgappa.

The goal is simple: keep you scrolling. If the platform shows you content you enjoy, you stay longer. If you stay longer, you see more ads. And if you see more ads, platform ki Diwali.

But there is a catch. When you keep liking the same kind of content or opinions, your feed becomes a bubble. You start feeling like everyone agrees with you, because your timeline keeps showing you similar voices. Reality mein, duniya apne traffic, office deadlines aur electricity bill mein busy hoti hai. But your feed is busy saying, “Yes boss, more of the same?”

So sometimes, confuse the algorithm a little. Watch different topics. Use “Not interested” when needed. Check your watch history. And don’t like every reel on autopilot.

Otherwise, you may start with one cat video—and three weeks later, you’ll be searching: “How to spiritually connect with my cat.”

Algorithm is not really your friend. It’s like a very smart Indian shopkeeper. You bought samosa once, and now every day it asks: “Aur samosa? Chutney bhi?”