When I participated in a digital citizenship course through Epik Deliberate Digital recently, one of our guest speakers was John Linford, the youngest professional magician in Utah. He showed us a card trick that completely baffled us. But then he took a minute to show us his secret. Turns out it was super simple! When he showed the trick again, we saw completely through it. 

Algorithms are like magic tricks. When youth get sucked down the rabbit hole that algorithms take them down, it can help us to remember they don’t see the sleight of hand that is like the magic of Big Tech. 

So give them grace and patiently help them see what’s happening. Even if you don’t understand it, you can remember that you’re being manipulated so you can keep alert to things that just don’t seem quite right...

Ask youth things like, “How do you think TikTok knows which videos you might want to watch?” or “What do you think Snapchat does to get you to stay on the app longer?” Create a judgment free environment and help them recognize what’s happening.