The Internet Knows What You Want Before You Do

Three rules to memorize:
1. If an online friend asks to move to Discord, WhatsApp, or texting -tell a parent immediately!
2. If you’ve watched the same kind of videos for 3+ days and feel angry or scared, watch something completely different.
3. Never tell anyone online your real name, school, city, or what your parents do.

How Recommendations Work

You search for “how to beat the Ender Dragon.” YouTube notices. Tomorrow it shows you Minecraft mods. Next week, redstone tutorials. A month later, you’re watching coding videos you never searched for.

You didn’t choose this path. The algorithm did.

Algorithm = the program that decides what you see. Its only job is keeping you watching longer. More watching = more ads = more money. Your attention is the product.

It learns what makes you click -funny, scary, or angry. It doesn’t care if what you’re watching is true or good for you.

The Pipeline: Small Steps to Big Changes

Each video seems like a normal next click:

1. “Top 10 Funniest Game Glitches”
2. “Why Modern Games Are Getting Worse”
3. “Game Companies Outsource to Cheap Developers”
4. “How Offshore Programmers Ruined Your Favorite Games”
5. “They Took American Jobs AND Destroyed Quality”
6. Full-on extreme political content blaming specific groups for everything wrong

This works for any topic -games, news, celebrities. The algorithm doesn’t care WHAT you believe, as long as you’re angry and watching.

When every video agrees with you, that’s not proof you’re right. It’s proof you’re in a bubble.

How to Know You’re Being Played

• Does every video agree with you?
• Are you getting angrier the more you watch?
• Do you think you’ve discovered something “they” don’t want you to know?

If yes: the algorithm found what hooks you, and it’s feeding you more.

Fix it: Click “Not Interested” on stuff that makes you angry. Search for the opposite opinion on purpose. Ask a real person what they think.

Strangers Who Seem Like Friends

When someone wants to hurt kids online, they don’t act scary. They act like the perfect friend.

Grooming = when an adult pretends to be your friend so they can hurt you later.

They check your profile first. They see you play Roblox, posted about feeling left out, like a certain YouTuber. Then they message:

“Hey! I play Roblox too! I saw your post about school -people suck sometimes. Have you seen [YouTuber’s] new video?”

You think: “This person gets me.”
They think: “Step one complete.”

The Pattern

1. Meet you in a game or public server
2. Compliment you or agree with everything you say
3. Ask to move to private chat (Discord DMs, texting, WhatsApp)
4. Ask personal questions: school, parents’ jobs, when you’re home alone
5. Share “secrets” so you feel like you can’t tell anyone
6. Ask for photos, your location, or to meet up

If someone online wants to move to private messaging and you’ve never met them in real life -why?

Where This Happens

Roblox: Filters catch some bad words but miss most grooming. Adults make accounts pretending to be kids.

Discord: Feels like friends, but you’re often talking to strangers. Someone invites you to a game server, then DMs you privately.

Fortnite/Minecraft servers: Teams feel like real friendships. Sometimes they are. Sometimes they’re adults looking for targets.

Biggest red flag: “Let’s talk somewhere else.” “What’s your number?” “Don’t tell anyone about our chats.” Real friends don’t need to hide.

What to Do

Algorithm messing with your head:
- Every video agreeing with you = the algorithm is lying
- Feeling angry after watching = stop watching
- Click “Not Interested” on content pulling you toward hate

Someone online feels too perfect:
- Screenshot and show a parent before anything else
- Never share your real name, school, city, or parents’ jobs
- Wanting private chat = red flag
- Real friends don’t ask you to keep secrets from parents

The main thing: If something online makes you feel special, like you’ve discovered a secret truth, or like you found someone who finally understands you -pause. That feeling is exactly what algorithms and predators create on purpose.

Your brain is yours. Don’t let a program rewrite it.