Let’s talk about images, those thumbnails and visuals that we see every day, and how they quietly may create a bias. Now, whenever we scroll on our news feed or social media, say - YouTube, Instagram, Twitter etc. we see a bombardment of eye-catching images thrown to us. Each of those visuals are carefully crafted to get our attention. Now introduce a situation, suppose the internet is bit down today and as a result your network speed is quite slow, images are not loading and we are left with just the headlines and plain text. And in just a moment our experience shifts. Now we are no longer drawn by attractive colors or dramatic designs, instead now we are actually reading. We are now evaluating the content for what it is really, unfiltered by any bias.
Images, are not neutral, they are shortcuts. They are designed to create an emotion, provoke a reaction or to draft some narrative. The question that we have to ask is, how often they are doing this without our conscious consent?
Let’s take an example, suppose you are scrolling through news articles, and two articles come in front of you. One has a thumbnail of a politician looking angry and pointing a finger, and the other article has a thumbnail showing a politician smiling and shaking hands with children. Both of these articles could have the exact same title “A Politician proposes new policy”, but which one are you more likely to click? Be honest. The thumbnail has already changed your interpretation of the actual news before you have even read it. The angry photo gives a sense of ‘Oh that might be controversial’ and the smiling one makes you think ‘Maybe this is a good thing.’ The actual news has not changed but the initial story has.
Now, this is not just about news, this happens across social media, advertisements that we see and various other places. The more visually appealing something is, the more likely we are to click it, and marketers know it, journalists know it, the algorithms know it. But do we know it?
Answer this, how often do you buy something because the packaging is shinier, or click on a post or article because the thumbnail was more appealing? The truth is, our brains are wired to process visuals faster than text. And it’s not recent, even in ancient times too, spotting a lion behind bushes mattered a lot more than reading its foot prints on the ground. But in today’s information saturated world, this instinct can mislead us.
Images have the potential to guide us away, away from context, away from critical thinking, and in the absence of visuals, like when the internet was down as we discussed above, you may find yourself more neutral, you may find yourself focusing on the content, the words, the meaning, the actual point.
But images are not all bad, they have some value also, they have their place. A picture sometimes can depict an emotion in such a way that no word in the entire dictionary can ever could, they can inspire us, warn us, or educate us. The problem arises when we stop questioning them, when we forget that they are actually created, are planned, and chosen for effect. The moment we forget that every image is a choice, we risk letting someone else getting into our mind without our wish.
So, is there anything that we can do, yes, awareness. Whenever you see an image, be it on social media, news, advertisement or anything else. Pause for a moment, and ask yourself, why this image? What is it trying to make me feel? Then look at the text, and ask the same question, is the picture supporting the actual story, or both are not very relevant? The picture is helping in clarifying the message or is it for manipulation?
One more thing could be done, however not many platforms support is, browsing in ‘text-only’ mode, or something I have experienced myself turning on ‘black-and-white’ mode on my laptop and phone. You can give it a try, browse in either only text-mode or black-and-white mode, and you will be surprised to see how much more thoughtful and less reactive your engagement has become.