Is This Your Thought—or the Algorithm’s?

by Dr. LaSonya Lopez, MD

May 6, 2025

We live in a world where scrolling has replaced stillness, where opinions are served faster than breakfast, and where you can wake up with a clear mind and go to bed carrying 47 ideas that didn’t belong to you.

This is the age of influence—not just by people, but by code. Sophisticated, invisible code that decides what you see, when you see it, and how often. It’s not a conspiracy theory—it’s marketing science, psychological manipulation, and machine learning, working together in the background to shape your preferences, purchases, priorities, and even your beliefs.

So here’s the question we must begin to ask with brutal honesty: Is this my thought—or the algorithm’s?

The Rise of Curated Consciousness

The average person spends 2.5+ hours per day on social media. That’s over 900 hours per year consuming content—much of it designed not to inform, but to influence.

Algorithms don’t just recommend what you already like. They feed you what will make you stay. What will make you click. What will keep you emotionally activated. Outrage, controversy, comparison, and confusion keep you on the app.

And that shapes you.Your feed becomes your focus. Your focus becomes your thought life. And your thought life becomes your identity. What you think about constantly, you eventually believe.

Influence Isn’t the Problem—Unconscious Influence Is

Humans are naturally social. We’ve always learned by mimicking. But we were never designed to take in this many signals in this short a time from this many sources.

You’re now absorbing hundreds—if not thousands—of micro-messages daily:

• What to eat

• What to fear

• How to parent

• How to “glow up”

• What success looks like

• Who’s doing it better

The problem isn’t that influence exists. It’s that it’s no longer filtered through reflection, relationship, or reason. We scroll past someone else’s polished life and mistake it for truth. We accept viral soundbites as philosophy. We adapt our opinions before we’ve even had the time to hear our own voice.

It’s not that the internet is brainwashing us. It’s that we’ve stopped asking whose voice is in our head.

The Algorithm Rewards Reactivity

To the machine, nuance is boring. Complexity doesn’t trend. The algorithm promotes what performs—not what enlightens.

And what performs?

• Fear

• Conflict

• Shock

• Sensationalism

Subtlety doesn’t generate clicks. Balance doesn’t go viral. So we’re slowly being conditioned to think in extremes, to argue without listening, to categorize without curiosity.

This doesn’t just affect your media habits. It affects your friendships. Your attention span. Your worldview. Your nervous system.

Every time you take in another opinion, another standard, another “you should,” your brain has to file it somewhere. And eventually, the volume becomes so loud that you mistake noise for truth.

What Does Algorithmic Thinking Sound Like?

It sounds like...

• “Everyone’s doing this—should I?”

• “If I’m not constantly posting, I’m falling behind.”

• “If this didn’t go viral, is it even valuable?”

• “She bounced back after birth in 6 weeks, why haven’t I?”

• “He built a business in a year, what’s wrong with me?”

These are not neutral thoughts. They are coded conclusions fed to you by people who profit from your insecurity and urgency. The more you question your pace, your body, your choices, the more time you’ll spend searching for answers. Online. In apps. On ads.

Which keeps the machine fed. And you—fragmented.

Reclaiming Original Thought

So how do we take back our minds in a world that monetizes our attention?

We slow down. We observe before we absorb. We listen inward before we scroll outward.

Here are 5 ways to disrupt algorithmic thinking:

1. Practice “Input Fasting”

Before you consume anyone else’s content, spend the first 30–60 minutes of your day in silence, Scripture, journaling, or meditation. Let your own voice greet you first.

2. Unfollow Strategically

Ask: “Does this account inspire clarity or confusion?” Curate your feed to reflect your values, not your insecurities.

3. Create More Than You Consume

Producing—even in small ways (journaling, praying aloud, voice notes)—activates self-trust and interrupts the passive loop of consumption.

4. Use the 3-Filter Test

Before you share or agree with anything online, ask:

• Is it true?

• Is it timely?

• Is it aligned with my purpose or values?

5. Anchor in Real Community

Talk to people who don’t live on your algorithm. Real life feedback will always be more reliable than digital validation.

Digital Discernment Is the New Literacy

In a world where attention is currency, discernment is your wealth.

Not every trend is a truth. Not every influencer is an authority. Not every popular opinion is wise.

Learn to identify when your ideas feel reactive instead of rooted. And practice slowing down long enough to ask: “Where did this thought come from—and do I actually agree with it?”

Final Word: You’re Not a Product. You’re a Person.

You weren’t created to be optimized. You weren’t built for nonstop visibility. You weren’t born to live by someone else’s data stream.

You have an internal compass. You have divine intuition. You have full permission to pause the scroll, close the tab, and reclaim the sacred ground of your own mind. The next time you find yourself caught in the current of comparison, outrage, or urgency, ask the one question that just might save your sanity:

Is this my thought—or the algorithm’s? Then breathe. Then listen. Then lead your life like it still belongs to you. Because it does. And it always has.