How digital media suppress news about nature that help society

Learn about the way algorithms form our opinions, swamp our news feed with nonsense and why media competence can help you enjoy life more.

Mar 07, 2024

As an online editor student I’m learning how to understand, evaluate and select the volume of information of online content, to control it and be able to produce my own media. These skills helps me a lot to turn my confusion about the flood of news and opinions in my feeds into clarity and how to distinguish between relevant and non-relevant news according to my personal goals.

But there are still moments where I feel like an invisible force wants to lure me into the web and spend more time consuming media about heated political discussions or bad news than I want to.

That’s why I see that not only the young but also adults would greatly benefit from having media competence. In our techno-oriented society we're all confronted with using the web, even the few people who try to avoid it.

Relearning healthy attention

On the streets of my hometown many people are walking while looking at their phone screen, some run into me because they aren’t aware of their environment anymore. It seems as if they had a hard time leaving their phone in the pockets and just enjoy being outside.

Digital devices make us watch “the last youtube video” two hours after bedtime, the information overload is like a mental tsunami. With no help on the way.

That’s why I think it’s important to build a strong value system, good mental health and the ability of discernment via media competence in order to surf the web without falling off of the surf board.

If we don’t control what we’re consuming then the media controls our daily lives.

And we're about to enter the era of artificial intelligence, it will only get worse. Knowing how to discern between fake and real media is a skill that we will need to learn as soon as possible.

Media competence to master your time

For many young people having media literacy could prevent them from getting hurt mentally or physically. Being online for them can be a scary and chaotic situation where they feel pressured by trending opinions and risk loosing the ability to think for themselves. In the worst case online predators try to lure them away from home.

For many adults who grew up in the time before emails existed it can be overwhelming: when you're used to going to the library or buying magazines in order to get proper information, searching online in today's world without getting manipulated in the wrong direction may be a challenging task.

According to Dieter Baacke, a German education researcher, media competency or literacy means

the ability of agency in a media-shaped world
a structuring goal for a society of information rather than for only individuals
a creative and critical-reflective use of media and one’s own media behaviour
knowledge and selection of media publications

The Flemish government’s definition contains two parts each divided into subpoints:

Using media: Operating, navigating, organizing, producing, e.g. “from changing a password to creating a website”
Understanding media: observing, analyzing, evaluating, reflecting, “consciously and critically assessing media”

It says that when working on media literacy, we should follow these five media goals:

Informing: evaluate content, spread media based on solid sources
Interacting: protect privacy, engage with others appropriatley
Creating: express original ideas, emotions and stories
Entertaining: consciously enjoy media, when to put it aside for offline activities
Defending: be resilient on the internet, stand up for what you believe in

There is more detailed information about it online, but these basic ideas can suffice to start implementing them in your media routine in order to select the news load.

Exchanging air with the trees

In the past decades the technological advances have made us believe that nature can be controlled entirely and thus humans are not dependent on her anymore. Of all the information online, putting nature as a focus and the intention of living with her in an interdepending relationship, is the last one that shows up in your feed.

Just look at avatars, the digital version of humans:

Avatars don't get unspecific body aches, sleep disorders or high blood pressure due to stress at work. They don't need fresh air or a holiday at the sea in order to rebalance themselves. The more we spend time on the internet, especially on social media, the less we interact with real people, real animals and real trees and the less we have real embodied experiences.

The world wide web disconnects us from mother earth, the material world, where the word mater (mother, source, substance) comes from. It makes us believe that only human cognitive figments like political opinions, concepts of wealth or career options bring us success andy happiness.

But when we interact with beings like plants and wild animals that are made by the intelligent love (or God) that mother earth provides we become emotionally healthy and confident again.

Even if it’s just observing little insects.

Human drama is rewarded, not real solutions

The code of the machine show us only click-worthy content, which is mostly human drama and debating. The value of an intact nature falls totally under the digital radar. That’s how we get so easily influenced by trends and opinions that don’t help us whatsoever in following goals in order to build a more stable society.

If you hear for the umpteenth time that Trump did xyz then sure you believe it’s more important than saving your local grasslands from second-homes being built on.

The media suppresses with it’s complex algorithm the news that can bring dead rivers back to life or help humans reconnect to the natural world.

It stops us from getting information that we actually need, like creating healthy neighbourhoods and communities that learn about food sovereignty or permaculture.

Algorithm reinforces your opinions

If you've heard about the buzzword algorithm but don't know what it is, you're not alone. Although computers, laptops and mobile phones affect us everywhere, we often don't understand the science behind them.

An algorithm is a code, which gives a computer a series of instructions. Together with machine learning, the code can get better at accomplishing the tasks, which are e.g. forecasting the weather, planning routes in navigation systems or the order of your search results in Google.

They filter everything out of the huge data of information into a small amount snippet of what you see online.

On social media that is based in turn on what kind of preference the machine "knows" about you. It looks at your previous behaviour and "learns" by it as to which video or social media post you've clicked, liked or shared and shows you more of that profile in your feed.

That algorithms are intransparent makes sense according to Katharina A. Zweig, professor for Socioinformatics, because if people knew exactly how Google filters their websites then there'd be even more spam website in the result pages as there already are.

That's why Google keeps changing it's algorithm now and then under several names like panda in 2011. So the problem doesn't lie so much in the secrecy of the algorithm rather than in the influence of the user's behaviour.

An alleged reward for your brain

There's one easy method with which social media companies bring you to spend more time on their platform: by rewarding a higher interaction. If you post, share and like more frequently, the algorithm shows your adventure video to more people, which means you get more and better reaction from your audience.

It’s a dopamine kick which makes one crave more kicks, until the opportunity to sit on a tree or watch the birds has disappeared, because we’ve learned a false form of joy - instant gratification.

Putting on a coat, stepping outside into the cold winter and moving the bones means more work upfront, but the reward of being outside provides more longterm benefits than the ups and downs of dopamin kicks:

“You can boost your mood just by walking in nature, even in urban nature. And the sense of connection you have with the natural world seems to contribute to happiness even when you’re not physically immersed in nature.”

says Lisa Nisbet, PhD, a psychologist at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, who reasearches connectedness to nature. Being in a green environment also helps with a better memory, engaging in different tasks and a higher attention span.

How does the “evil” algorithm get more reactions?

It gives emotionally loaded and provoking posts the biggest platform. This has the shocking effect that it suppresses the news that are important to society because it shows only the ones that are terrible, dumb, bloody, gross, hilarious, outraging, or anything that catches people’s attention.

The longer you stay on the news site the better their Google ranking becomes.

You don’t read about how the destruction of the land through industries and industrial agriculture is as important as global warming (a.k.a. climate change).
You don’t read that working in a garden or a small farm can spare you your gym membership.
You barely read about the serious discussion to give rivers, land and mountains their own rights in the law, just like companies have their own rights.

The list could go on.

Yes, these news exist, written by passionate people who believe in what they do, but the machine disregards them.

It reminds me of how our economy disregards the living world and it seems as if digital media mirrors the worst in humans. It’s all about entertainment, celebrities, technology, arts, culture, sports, career, industries, economy.

Now that we know how algorithms steal our precious time we can take charge of our life purpose again. Even when the machine is against us we can create beautiful media that touches a few people’s heart.

We can take a walk in the woods and rejoice what’s left of the natural world and her fellow creatures.