Control in the name of distraction

By Aisha Fahmy Mohd Zulhery Fahmy

People call them big companies or even giants. Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Netflix. These names literally dominate our digital world. They’ve become so woven into our daily lives that we often forget just how much we rely on them. At the touch of our fingertips, we send messages, stream videos, search for answers, shop, and socialize. The line “there’s an app for that” came from their inventions. In many ways, these companies built the modern digital landscape.

Thanks to them, we’re more connected than ever before. We can communicate across borders, access information instantly, and enjoy the kind of convenience our ancestors couldn’t have imagined. But with great innovation comes great responsibility and even greater power. The question is: Where do we draw the line?

Yes, we should be thankful for the tools they’ve created. But we should also be cautious. There’s a saying: “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” but perhaps in this case, the real warning should be: “Don’t keep eating if the hand starts feeding you poison.” These platforms don’t just connect us, they also control the flow of information we see. The news we read, the videos we watch, the ads we encounter, even the people we interact with, much of it is determined by algorithms designed by a few powerful corporations.

This control over information isn’t just a matter of business. It affects public opinion, political debates, and even personal beliefs. When a handful of companies can amplify some voices while silencing others, promote certain narratives while burying others, it becomes clear that they don’t just participate in the media industry, they dominate it.

And the content never stops. We scroll endlessly through social media, binge-watch entire series in a weekend, and click through a dozen tabs without finishing a single one. At some point, this starts to feel less like freedom and more like hypnosis. We’re feeding on content voluntarily but without limits. We’re consuming and consuming, but what are we really getting in return?

I believe this endless stream of media has become a distraction. A way to pull us away from the real world, from reality itself. Instead of looking out at the world and engaging with people face to face, we’re staring into screens, losing ourselves in curated images and carefully calculated feeds. And while it feels like we’re in control, choosing what to watch or who to follow, the truth is, much of our experience is shaped by behind-the-scenes algorithms we don’t fully understand.

Of course, not everything is harmful. There are many benefits to the digital world: education, community-building, activism, entertainment, even healing. But we can’t ignore the other sides too. The addictive design of social media, the spread of misinformation, the invasion of privacy, the mental health challenges; it’s all part of the same package.

So yes, the tech giants are part of the media industry, but they’re more than that. They are the media industry now. They’ve become the new gatekeepers of information. And while they promise freedom, access, and innovation, they also hold immense power over what we see, what we know, and how we feel.

The real challenge isn’t just recognizing this power, it’s deciding what to do with it. Should we regulate them? Should we limit our use? Should we demand more transparency? These are the questions we need to start asking, not just as consumers, but as citizens of a digital world.

The author is an undergraduate student of Universiti Malaya, taking an elective university course entitled “Introduction to Journalism and Storytelling in Digital Age”

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