Let me tell you about a small snippet of hell called new mom Instagram.
I didn't announce my pregnancy for some time, and most people not in my immediate vicinity found out only after my son was born. But my algorithm knew -- it was remarkably precise tracking through first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, giving me tailored content sometimes down to the week of my pregnancy.
It's probably not news to anyone that our algorithms are so fine-tuned to our lives. We spend a little time lingering on a video or post, and the algorithm serves us up more of the same. Before I was pregnant, my Instagram algorithm was almost exclusively videos about dogs and gardening, because those are two things I enjoy. And the algorithm shift itself when I got pregnant wasn't too surprising to me as a physician who creates content for social media, writes about social media, and studies social media. But nothing quite prepared me for new mom Instagram.
Every couple months a new survey comes out measuring what percent of people turn to social media for health advice. Every time I read these surveys, I can't help but think they're asking the wrong question. Most people aren't opening up their Instagram app and typing in a health question like a Google search. As a new mom, I have had many questions on this newborn learning curve, but I haven't looked for a single piece of information on any social media app.
