My friend and I were talking this week about social media and how it really is a powerful tool when it comes to mind control.
Like television in days of yore (and falling into the mind control category for those who still watch it), social media is a powerful weapon in America today and many are none the wiser.
The number of people who use social media/video platforms to get their news and other information these days is striking.
In fact, from a global standpoint it’s now a majority of the people.
In a Reuters Institute Digital News Report it was discovered 54% of people globally use social media and video networks to access news.
That means more than half of the world’s news-consuming population encounter news through social media and video networks, and 30% say these platforms are their main source of news.
And so, the world isn’t necessarily being told what to believe – it’s being told what to look at.
Reuters found that people who encounter news on social platforms often aren’t deliberately going there looking for news either. They encounter it while doing something else.
To put it simply – the algorithm chooses what appears – you see it – you react – the system learns what holds your attention – it shows you more – repetition creates familiarity – familiarity influences perception.
And no, that doesn’t mean everyone is brainwashed.
It means the gatekeeper has changed.
Once, an editor decided what made the front page.
Now, an algorithm decides what appears on your personal front page.
And 5.66 billion social-media user identities give that system an extraordinary global audience.
We’ve reached a point where social media isn’t simply where the world talks. For a growing percentage of humanity, it’s becoming the place where the world is interpreted.
People spend much time arguing about whether the media is biased, Democrats or Republicans manipulating voters, the feeding of disinformation, the government lying or telling the truth and underneath it all: perception.
And as for perception, it has now become programmable through algorithms, advertising, political messaging, psychological profiling, recommendation systems and something we voluntarily carry around in our pockets every day.
Our phones.
You click on something, linger over something, become angry, you keep watching – the system learns and it gives you more.
A 2026 study published in New Media & Society examined people’s experiences with algorithmically mediated social-media feeds and found themes of dis-empowerment, distress, and reduced agency, while also finding that different algorithmic systems produced different patterns of content selection. The researchers described the relationship between users and algorithms as a complex interaction rather than simple one-way manipulation.
I’m not saying algorithms are magical mind-control machines.
But, you can be sure our government has been aware of it and has the means to use it.
Think DARPA, they have been on to this game for years.
DARPA created the Social Media in Strategic Communication, or SMISC, program to develop “a new science of social networks.” The objectives included developing tools to identify misinformation and deception campaigns and counter them with truthful information.
Well, that was the official story. There is, of course another side to that in the idea that DARPA secretly controls the minds of Americans through Facebook.
Maybe, maybe not, but consider this – if you can study how information travels, how people respond to messages and how narratives spread, don’t you also learn something about how human perception can be influenced?
Look into Cambridge Analytica, not a conspiracy theory.
The Federal Trade Commission found that Cambridge Analytica engaged in deceptive practices involving the collection of Facebook user data. The company became infamous for using data analytics and psychological profiling in political campaigning.
Now does the idea that your digital behavior could become political intelligence make more sense as in likes, clicks, interests, networks, all your data.
And data becomes prediction.
Prediction becomes targeting.
Targeting becomes persuasion.
Did social media replace television? No, it became another layer.
So, let us trip down this rabbit hole – what happens when mass media becomes personalized mass media?
Television once gave millions of people the same message.
Social media can give millions of people different versions of the message, tailored to what appears most likely to hold your attention.
This is where perception becomes reality
Let’s call it the perception loop.
Information creates perception.
Perception creates belief.
Belief influences behavior.
Behavior creates consequences.
Those consequences become our reality.
That’s not a scientific “law” yet it’s a powerful description of human behavior.
If I believe everyone hates me, I behave differently.
If I believe my neighborhood is dangerous, I behave differently.
If I believe the economy is collapsing, I interpret every trip to the grocery store differently.
If I believe the economy is thriving, I interpret the same evidence differently.
The facts may be identical facts, but depending on who you are, the experience is vastly different.
Here’s another social media faux pas – your ego believing everyone agrees with you.
Not really.
Usually, it’s more like 50 or so people who are furious about the same thing you are furious about.
It can become 500 or 5,000, that is not “everyone,” but you still get that social media rush and your brain begins to think everybody knows you are right.
Really, what happened was the algorithm discovered that anger keeps you engaged, angry and distracted.
I’m not going to say social media is a government psyop.
That’s way too easy, but I will say social media has become an information environment capable of influencing perception on a gigantic scale.
And of course, governments can use this, as can political campaigns targeting messaging, corporations targeting behavioral advertising, foreign actors spreading propaganda, influencers manufacturing narratives, you get the point.
Algorithms amplify certain content, and ordinary people unknowingly become the distribution system.
And when that all comes together – and I think on many levels it comes together organically, there is no need for an army of propagandists.
Heck, millions of people will share and promote propaganda, many believing it’s true.
So how do we break this spell?
By learning to recognize the propaganda.
If it makes you instantly furious, stop. If it frightens you, stop. If it confirms everything you believe, stop.
Put yourself back in the real world, why is everything agreeing with you? That is not real world and that is obviously not healthy because how will you learn and grow?
It’s also a good idea to ask where the information originated and if it’s fact, opinion, interpretation or emotion.
And always be willing to ask yourself, “What if I’m wrong?”
Freedom from misinformation begins with being willing to question the answer you’ve been handed.
The truth is that nothing can completely control what happens next unless you surrender your ability to think critically about what you are seeing.
Don’t delete social media, question it.
Learn how to use social media so it’s not using you because perception may not create objective reality, but perception creates your experience of reality.
It’s not who is controlling the masses, but who is shaping what the masses perceive—and how much of it are we doing to ourselves?
Once you see the strings, you have the choice to keep dancing or cut yourself loose.
Rita Cook is a freelance writer for The Ellis County Press. She can be reached at rcook13@earthlink.net.