Do you have free will? #Habits

17 Nov 2020 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:58

Short video monologue by TJ Walker questioning whether individuals truly have free will in daily life, arguing that routine choices (email, social media, shopping, food delivery, entertainment) are often shaped by algorithms and personalized recommendations. The piece frames common weekend activities as programmed behaviors influenced by digital platforms.

Chapters

Do you and I have free will? I like to think so. But think for a minute. What do you do on a truly free day? A Saturday, Sunday? Nothing on your agenda? You can do whatever you want. Well, too often for a lot of folks. It's you get up, you check email with friends, you check social media. Oh, somebody liked my post of my vacation pictures. Let me see who that was. Maybe you want to do some reading. You look at stories where someone's already sent you a link. You want to read a book, you go to Amazon and sure enough, they've recommended a great book. That's exactly what you were looking for. Time for lunch. You order, perhaps pizza. You got a great discount online. And maybe a free delivery on Uber Eats. Afternoon, ready to relax. Time for a movie on Netflix. Great free day, right? Unfortunately, every one of those activities was programmed for you through an algorithm.