Book

When the Trend Leads You... Where You Don't Want to Go

Ahmed Al-Dhafiri

Publication date: July 13, 2026 23:07 KSA

Every morning on platform X, a new opinion is born, a new anger, a new hero, then by sunset the scene completely changes, as if nothing had happened.

This is the nature of digital platforms: immense speed and short memory. The problem starts when the platform's speed turns into speed in our judgments, and when the number of likes becomes a criterion for truth, and the number of shares becomes evidence of the idea's validity.

The trend was designed to attract attention, and attention always seeks the loudest voice, the most sensational headline, and the story that provokes emotions. Thus, exaggerations spread faster than facts, and emotional reaction precedes thought by several steps. How many personalities have been subjected to a widespread campaign, only for the facts to emerge days later, completely changing the picture? How many projects were received with ridicule, only to turn into success stories? How many clipped clips created public opinion, while the full scene was entirely different? The intelligent person does not chase every wave; he asks a simple question before sharing or commenting: Who benefits from pushing me towards these emotions? This question alone restores reason to its place. Platforms know well that anger achieves greater spread than calm, that conflict attracts more followers than dialogue, and that quick judgments garner more interaction than balanced analysis. Therefore, many issues turn into a race for emotion, while truth proceeds at a slower pace. Having an independent opinion has become a rare skill. To pause for an hour before reposting, to search for the original source, to read from multiple angles, to give yourself a chance to think... all of that grants you real freedom and protects you from being part of a wave driven by algorithms designed to increase engagement, not to raise the quality of awareness. Everyone has the right to disagree. Everyone has the right to discuss. Everyone has the right to criticize. But there is a big difference between criticism that fosters understanding and drift that creates noise. Do not let the trend choose for you what to be angry about, what to be happy about, whom to support, or whom to oppose. Let your mind precede your finger. A word you write in seconds may remain for years, while the trend that pushed you to write it may disappear before you finish your coffee. And because we live in a time when platforms compete to capture your attention, the greatest victory remains to maintain the independence of your thought, and to give truth the time it deserves before you give your opinion to the world.

Articles