Ignore the algorithm

Almost everything I consume these days comes from an algorithm that I didn’t ask for.

In some ways, I appreciate these algorithms. Spotify and YouTube have introduced me to more good content than I can shake a stick at.

And yet…

There was a time when I would go into Best Buy (which had a CD section that spanned several rows and had CDs at lower prices than most other places) and buy a CD based on the album art.

Or when I’d go into Tower records and put on one of those cool headphones and listen to whatever was being promoted by the staff. Some of my favorite records were discovered this way.

Or, I’d visit the public library, where all of the albums that people were throwing away/donating would pile up and I’d pick up a Lyle Lovett or Guided By Voices album and just bliss out.

Or I’d be in a department store somewhere and trying to hear the lyrics of the song playing on the store speakers, writing them down partially correctly in my notebook.

This is the way taste is formed: you stumble across good art. Pushing art on people just because they liked something similar at some point keeps everyone in a box.

I’m far less adventurous these days. Alas.