the perils of online communication

why social media algorithms are driving me crazy

Apr 12, 2024

As a linguist and content creator, I have a lot of thoughts about language on social media.

It’s beautiful that we’re in an era of democratized public communication—anybody can have a platform and be heard by millions of people, a luxury previously reserved for the wealthy and powerful. I am immensely grateful that I’ve been able to build up an audience of people excited about language, something that wouldn’t have been possible just two decades ago.

However, the very platforms that enable this kind of communication also restrict it. To be able to spread their message, creators have to play into very unique algorithmic constraints. Our videos must be FAST PACED and ATTENTION-GRABBING, or else they’re guaranteed to flop, because social media platforms won’t push them to their users.

If you’ve seen my content, you can tell I’ve chosen to play this game. I try to be conscientious about it, not sacrificing my professional integrity just for clicks, but I do speak faster and with a different intonation than in real life, and all my videos are carefully scripted to keep the viewer’s attention. I do this because I feel like I’m at least contributing something useful—it’s worth the trade-off to teach people about linguistics.

That being said, it’s very frustrating that I am forced to follow a set format. Social media has no option for nuance or ambiguity, which come hand in hand with etymology. I have to present cohesive stories structured around a single narrative, when in reality there are many factors that can cause a word to evolve.

Then there are the topics that I outright can’t discuss. TikTok and Instagram will suppress or remove any posts with controversial keywords, which means that I can’t approach a lot of topics, even from an educational, academic perspective. I’ve frequently wanted to make linguistics videos about curse words, or politics, or mental health, but chosen not to because I knew those videos wouldn’t perform well.

My solution is to write more, which is why I’m starting this substack. If a topic is compelling to me in a way I can’t express online, I’ll post it here, and I’ll try to keep this platform free for whoever is interested in my longer-form, nuanced takes. I’ll also use this space to share more serious ventures, like this Washington Post op-ed I was really excited to work on.

I also have more projects up on my linktree here. Thanks so much for your support, and I’m excited to take this journey with you :)