We often talk about the Internet as if it were a passive space — a mirror reflecting society to itself. In reality, it is an active participant in shaping perception, emotion, and belief. More than any other technology before it has become an extension of our very humanity by how platforms shape what we think and feel.
Every major platform is built on assumptions about human psychology. What makes us click? What makes us share? What keeps us coming back? These assumptions are tested, refined, and scaled across billions of users.
Online gambling and online and mobile gaming have been the major drivers of this phenomenon. The ease with which people who never set foot in a casino can now access online gambling platforms has made them ubiquitous in the ads served by Google and others. Online and especially mobile gaming has completely transformed the addictive nature of gaming as it’s constantly available, not just when you’re at home playing on your Xbox or PlayStation, connected to your Smart TV.
Over time, this has consequences.
Content that provokes outrage spreads faster than content that encourages reflection. Simplified narratives outperform nuanced ones. Emotional extremes are rewarded, while moderation struggles for visibility. This does not make people irrational — it makes them human.
For parents, this matters deeply. Children and teenagers are forming their worldview inside environments optimised for engagement, not understanding. What they see repeatedly becomes familiar. What is familiar begins to feel normal.
For example, there has long been a debate among academics on whether violence in video games leads to violence in the real world. Most research does show that there is no direct link between the two, and at most, violence in video games leads to more aggression. This would include emotional outbursts.
The challenge is not censorship or control, but literacy. Digital literacy today must include psychological literacy — an understanding of how platforms influence mood, identity, and behaviour. Without this, we mistake algorithmic amplification for reality.
The mood that most often is a consequence of passive scrolling is one of complacency, and maybe even learned helplessness. Young people in particular feel that they can’t do anything to change the world, especially when being fed a constant stream of scary times over short social media clips. The solution to this is when they can become engaged within their family and local communities.
5 Ways Platforms Shape What We Think and Feel
Some of the specific ways in which online platforms shape what we think and how we feel are as follows:
- Engagement = every like, comment, or emoji gives you a tiny dopamine rush. This keeps bringing you back for more
- Confirmation Bias – when you only follow news, pages, influencers you agree with, they confirm what you already believe. You are never challenged with any new ideas or anything contrary to your existing beliefs.
- Idleness – when you are a passive scroller, you never take action. There’s always a new video, a new post, a new photo. You forget that taking action is what actually changes your life. You don’t make mistakes, so you don’t learn new lessons.
- Comfort – fear of rejection or maybe even fear of the unknown plays a role here. You are comfortable looking at strangers performing various activities, and you feel you relate to them, and therefore, you could do them as well. However, you never get around to doing anything because you’re ultimately afraid of rejection.
- Self-image – you try to portray a positive or happy self-image to the world through sharing on social media. You copy the examples of others who only share good, positive or happy moments. You, in a sense you suppress your negative emotions, and this becomes your shadow as psychoplo