Self Portrait with My Algorithm

In 2021, I began to notice ads popping up in my Instagram feed that had previously been full of cute pics of my family and friends. What were they trying to sell me? What were they trying to tell me? Who did they think I was?

I started taking screenshots once a month, in 30 minute blocks, every time I saw and ad. I’d put them all together in a collage of 42 posts to reflect back at me the portrait of my online self—a self-portrait of my algorithm. For a couple years, 30 minutes of scrolling would typically yield 35-45 ads. Roughly one a minute. That seemed like a lot, but I’d still see mostly pictures on people I knew, or organizations I followed. As years went by, the ads started multiplying, so much so that by May 2025, I’d see a post from someone I knew in just one out of every three posts. It would take me about five minutes of scrolling to fill the 42-post grid that previously had taken half an hour.

By November 2025, the ads, or “sponsored content”, or “suggested for you” posts were so overwhelming that it would take me less than a minute of scrolling through my feed to fill the grid. That’s 42 ads in 60 seconds. If I scrolled for 30 minutes, that’s 2,520 posts fed to me that not me, by my algorithm decided I should see. In between those 42 posts, I saw exaclty one post from a real live person I knew.

The future really is for everyone! Thanks Meta!