Sunday, July 26, 2026
Why TikTok’s Algorithm Keeps You Trapped in a Breakup Loop - The New York Times
The Breakup Loop: Why the TikTok Algorithm May Keep You Heartbroken
"As social media companies face scrutiny over addictive design features, mental health experts cite a stream of breakup content as an example of the failure to protect users.
Days after she ended a relationship with her boyfriend, Jasmine Barnett noticed an abrupt shift in her TikTok feed: The comedy sketches and fitness clips that she typically enjoyed were suddenly replaced by a constant churn of videos about breakups.
At first, Ms. Barnett, a 27-year-old accountant from Atlanta, welcomed the detour into heartbreak, which included deep dives on attachment styles and relationship autopsies. After several weeks, she wanted to move on but the algorithm wouldn’t let her.
Her feed had devolved into montages of weeping women and tarot card readers peddling insights into her ex’s psyche. She made several attempts to block the breakup content, she said, but it continued to reappear.
“I’m like, ‘Please, I don’t want to see this anymore because it’s making me stay in that depressive state,’” she said, recalling her predicament two years ago. “I didn’t want to feel sad anymore.”
It’s common for people in a vulnerable state after a breakup to find their social media feeds awash in such content.
You can go “no contact” with your ex, one TikToker says in an expletive-laden post, because, she says, the person you are missing is lame. Another weeps while a motivational voice-over message plays. Others sell guaranteed multistep plans for winning back an ex.
As social media companies face increasing scrutiny over addictive design features and accusations that their algorithms can feed users harmful content, mental health advocates are pointing to the platforms’ handling of breakup content as a stark example of their failure to protect users.
Steering people who have exited a relationship toward a never-ending well of breakup content, which could increase engagement by trapping them in a state of rumination and grief, can have severe consequences for their mental health and raises a host of thorny ethical questions, experts say.
“When people are going through a romantic breakup, there’s a way in which being immersed so much in the content and thinking about the person they’ve lost, over a long period of time, can make it harder for them to recover,” said Jodi Halpern, a professor of bioethics at the University of California, Berkeley, who is writing a book about grief.
The algorithm knows you are hurting.
TikTok’s algorithm is astonishingly good at figuring out its users’ preferences and offering up a tailored stream of videos to keep them engaged.
On BreakupTok, as the corner of the platform dedicated to heartbreak is known, videos include personal breakup narratives, advice on going “no contact” with former partners, post-relationship glow-ups and a mixed bag of guidance, including advice from licensed therapists and breakup coaches.
Dr. Michael Rich, the founder of the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital, said TikTok seems to have a remarkable ability to respond to emotional states, particularly during times of heightened vulnerability because of “new loneliness.” He said it was an example of an important metric for social media companies — increased engagement time — working against the mental health of the user.
TikTok cannot actually read human emotions (even though it sometimes seems as if it does). The app tracks user behaviors — including video watch times, scroll speed and whether someone likes, shares or comments — and collects the data to determine what videos the algorithm should show next.
Feeding a stream of breakup-related content to people who recently split up with a partner could cause them to interact with the app too frequently or for too long, disrupting their natural healing, Dr. Rich said. It may prolong heartache, hinder their ability to process grief and keep them from swiftly moving on.
“It’s like ripping the scab off time and again,” he said. “It’s taking you back and saying, ‘Let’s relive this in some way,’ with the guise of helping you.”
An endless scroll.
Research has shown that social media use after a breakup can be detrimental. Accidental exposure to an ex, or searching for information on that person, can lead to distress and more negative feelings while stunting emotional recovery and inhibiting personal growth. Other studies have found that even when users took steps to remove exes from their online lives, social media often resurfaced them — sometimes multiple times per day.
With breakups, experts often point to the endless nature of some social media feeds, features including notifications and “likes” that might encourage overuse and, now, the rise of chatbots reaching out to grieving users as particularly problematic and dangerous.
“Beyond breakups, these manipulative tactics to get people to overuse social media and chatbots have been associated with decreased mental health and, in youth, actual suicidal actions and severe mental health outcomes,” Dr. Halpern said.
TikTok declined to comment. The company has acknowledged in the past that some videos can “inadvertently reinforce a negative personal experience for some viewers, like if someone who’s recently ended a relationship comes across a breakup video.”
To address this, the company said in 2021 that it had designed its “For You” page to “interrupt repetitive patterns” and that it had experimented with ways to avoid recommending similar content “that may be fine as a single video but problematic if viewed in clusters.” The app also provides wellness features, like tools to limit screen time and opportunities to help people relax and unwind.
Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, said in a statement that it offered ways for people to curate recommended content, including tools that limit certain types of posts or videos or block those that use specific words — like “breakup” or “relationship” — in hashtags or captions. In December, the company announced a new tool that it said gives Instagram users more control over their algorithms, allowing people to see and edit the topics the company thinks users care about most.
YouTube declined to comment, but last year it updated its features designed to protect teenage users, including initiatives to disrupt repetitive viewing habits and highlighting reminders to take breaks.
Experts and some users, however, argue that many of these features haven’t actually kept heavy streams of breakup content out of people’s feeds and don’t go far enough to safeguard their mental health.
Are the videos helping or hurting?
Not everyone has a bad experience with breakup content on social media. Some users said in interviews that they enjoyed it because it helped normalize their experience or offered useful advice, like how to regulate their nervous system or meditate.
“I felt seen,” said Ana Ruiz, 35, of Orlando, Fla., who got out of a relationship this spring. She said that much of the content she consumed on Instagram helped her understand the flaws in her relationship and cope with the loss.
Others were more critical.
Jason Salem, who is in his late 20s, said the breakup content he watched, primarily on Instagram and YouTube, was “totally addicting.”
He said he would spend hours a day on social media, watching videos on attachment theory or content from creators, whom he called “grifters,” promising ways to fix his relationship.
“I wanted the hope,” he said.
He said that the content slowed his recovery and distracted him from focusing on what mattered to him, like work, friends and hobbies.
“It kind of prolonged my grief because of the way it’s designed,” he said. “That’s what they want it to do, so that you continue to watch their videos.”
Overall, he added, the content damaged his view of dating.
“In hindsight I realized I saw a lot of posts that were ignorant or biased but presented as fact,” he said. “They often presented pessimistic and narrow-minded views about dating, and at my lowest points, I identified with them.”
Overcoming false hope.
When someone is experiencing deep grief, the amygdala — the part of the brain that initiates the fight-or-flight response — takes over and it can be difficult to access the other parts of the brain that bring more perspective, said Jeff Guenther, a licensed therapist who posts on TikTok about breakups and relationships to nearly three million followers.
“In those moments, you’re going to seek out videos — or comfort — that make you continue to feel like something is really, really wrong,” he said. He added that continuing to feel those emotions is a way for people to stay connected with their ex.
Mr. Guenther said that there was a lot of helpful breakup content on TikTok, including from professional breakup coaches or users posting about their personal experiences. But there was also a lot of “incredibly engaging” content that he saw as unhelpful, because it placed all the fault on the ex.
“So you never really get an opportunity to grow and to evolve and to look at your part,” he said.
A lot of the content targets users in the bargaining stage of grief, when they might hold out hope that their relationship can be repaired or their ex will come back, he said. It’s a difficult phase to navigate, even for a therapist, and one in which the person is particularly susceptible to exploitative content.
Mr. Guenther tries to subtly nudge people “out of the bargaining stage,” he said, but that is not what he sees the algorithm serving, with influencers leaning into “false hope.”
“I feel like the less qualified you are, the better your breakup content tends to be,” he said. “Better as in, you know, you’ll get more engagement.”
Kitty Bennett contributed research.
Jonathan Wolfe is a Times reporter based in London, covering breaking news."
Friday, July 24, 2026
Thursday, July 23, 2026
Ring’s New Spotlight Camera Is Astoundingly Good, if You Turn Off Its AI Surveillance
Ring’s New Spotlight Camera Is Astoundingly Good, if You Turn Off Its AI Surveillance
Ring’s new Spotlight Camera is a solid choice for monitoring and illuminating dark areas, offering a 2K resolution, 6x zoom, and a 140-degree field of view. While the camera’s battery life can be improved with a second battery pack or solar panel, the real concern lies in Ring’s extensive AI features and data sharing practices, which may raise privacy concerns for some users. Despite these drawbacks, the camera’s customizable settings and affordability make it a compelling option for those seeking a spotlight security camera.
A spotlight security camera is an interesting hybrid device. In addition to a powerful cam, it includes LED panels for illumination, without the sometimes stringent requirements of a floodlight security camera. These spotlight cameras are something of a specialty for Amazon Ring, and its latest 2026 battery version ($170) is the best I’ve tested.
Ring's new spotlight camera is one of the best of its kind, if you don't mind making adjustments. / Tyler Lacoma/CNET
Pros & Cons
However, adopting this jack-of-all-trades security device also means signing up for Ring’s other services, not all of which are opt-in. Some services, like the way Ring uses the Neighbors section of its app to send info to the police or rope your camera into looking for pets, give people privacy and surveillance anxiety. Fortunately, you can turn these AI features off if they frustrate you, although you will still need a Ring plan if you want to use cloud video storage.
That said, this Ring camera is one of my top suggestions if you have a section of your yard or driveway that needs both monitoring and extra illumination for safety, like near a dark porch or deck steps. The batteries drain fast with those bright LEDs, but Ring has an answer for that, too. Here’s what I found in my tests.
Ring’s Spotlight design and battery packs
The newest Ring Spotlight Cam is bulkier than most modern security cameras, but it also does a lot more with its LED spotlights, so overall it’s quite compact for a cam with its capabilities.
The design is also very solid — Ring has been making strides in this area over the past couple of years — and the cam proved not only durable but easy to understand and install with the screw-in base, provided you have a surface you can drill into. Setup takes a bit of time (I’ll talk about the app below), but Ring’s walkthroughs have also improved.
The camera itself also got a boost, with a 2K resolution using Ring’s latest “Retinal” processing and 6x zoom, as well as about a 140-degree field of view, easily enough for my yard.
I’m always a fan of battery security cams, since you can set them up nearly anywhere on your property without worrying about wiring. However, that’s a trickier proposition with a spotlight camera because those LED panels can quickly drain the battery, especially when they’re frequently activated.
Ring helps a little with this by automatically keeping brightness lower when using battery power and letting you adjust overall brightness as well as when the lights trigger. But the real advantage here is the dual battery slots at the bottom of the camera. Those let you purchase an extra battery and slot it in. With two batteries, you can charge one up while the other is at work, or charge them both and pair them up so you won’t have to worry about the camera for an extended period of time.
Even in my relatively brief tests over a few days and a number of spotlight activations, the battery pack dropped to 70%, so I highly recommend adding the extra battery pack and preparing to charge them frequently. However, that also means this Ring cam is an excellent subject for the solar panel add-on to help keep batteries charged. Or, if you prefer, you can choose a wired version.
Camera and lighting performance
I’ve tested several Ring’s Retinal 2K and 4K devices, so I wasn’t surprised to see the resolution holds up well, with little latency and a clear live view whenever I needed it, along with clear captured videos using Ring’s cloud. The two-way audio also works well, although like many outdoor cameras, it’s a bit too eager to pick up on ambient noises, so clarity can suffer depending on your environment.
The spotlight panels also work well, even if they drain the battery quickly. At medium brightness, they filled the yard with light (and made it difficult to take a clear picture). I probably could have gotten away with a much lower brightness setting to save power while still retaining the luminous benefits.
You can turn the lights on at will or set them to turn on with motion detection. While they don’t cover as much ground as a full floodlight, their side angles do help spread the light out more than you would expect from a spotlight.
The Ring Spotlight Cam second-gen is rated at 550 lumens, but that’s at full power. With my tested, in-the-middle settings and the readings from my lux meter, I’m estimating brightness came around a third of that, and I wouldn’t want it much higher due to battery drain. At night, that’s plenty of light for the surrounding area.
The complicated, but comprehensive, Ring app
Ring’s app is chock full of features, which will mean a learning curve if this is your first security camera. I do like the navigation options, especially when the settings section offers tiles to find what you’re looking for, but it may take time to locate everything when starting out.
Ring will walk you through basic setup options, like which smart alerts you want to receive when setting up the camera, but much more awaits after installation is complete. You can visit the live screen, see a scrolling history of events, search for specific events, and control options like audio, lights and a siren.
There are automations you can set for all these features, sensitivity adjustments you can make for motion detection, and alert controls you can set so Ring sends you notifications for only certain events, like seeing a human versus seeing an animal. You can also set up schedules and snoozes if you only want the motion detection on for certain times.
Since battery life is especially important for this spotlight camera, I’ll also note you can make adjustments to video capture, motion frequency and video recording length to help save power, among other options. There are tools to set a light schedule, too, but having the light on for an extended period of time isn’t a good idea when you’re running on battery power.
The latest version of Ring’s app also has a couple of welcome privacy features. There’s a Mode option, which is similar to scheduling but lets you control all Ring devices you have, disarming them or setting them to “Home” so they won’t activate around you. There are also camera motion zones, which you can set to help the Spotlight Cam focus on specific areas and ignore others, which helps target important areas and not alert you every time someone walks outside.
Those features are the beginning. You can also get involved in the Ring Neighbors section of the app, which connects you with a local neighborhood that can give updates on everything from lost pets and wildfires to rascally teenagers. You can shut off the more annoying alerts and adjust overall settings, but that takes a different set of menus and knowledge of where to go, creating another learning curve. And here you may find settings you’d prefer to be off.
Ring’s AI and settings you may want to disable
A Ring Protect plan starts at $5 per month for cloud video storage and smart alerts for people, packages and vehicles, which are very useful. But upgrade to a Ring Pro plan ($20) with professional monitoring or higher, and you get Ring’s extensive AI features, too.
For the Spotlight Cam, that includes video descriptions and event summaries, telling you what the camera sees so you don’t have to watch videos all the time. It doesn’t always get things right — this cam once hallucinated me playing with sofa cushions when I was shaking out some rugs — but it’s typically close enough to clue you in on what’s happening just by reading the alert.
Other features are more contentious. The Familiar Faces feature, if enabled, lets the camera save the faces of strangers for you to label later so it can recognize people, an AI application both Ring and Google Nest are currently facing privacy lawsuits over.
If you don’t care for Neighbors at all, you can turn off the whole platform, but I find some features very useful.
Tyler Lacoma/CNETIn the Neighbors section of the app, other problems may await. Ring tends to automatically enroll cameras in services like Search Party and Fire Watch, which turn on the cameras to search for signs of specific pets or nearby fires. People worry that those detection features could be used for human surveillance as well, which is one reason Ring canceled its in-progress Flock Safety partnership last year, although users can still offer police their videosusing the Neighbors app.
The good news is you can turn all of these AI settings off, based on what makes you uncomfortable. But you need to know where to get into the various settings menus. If you’re interested in this camera, I highly recommend heading to my guide on the Ring settings you may want to shut down, where I explain exactly how to do it.
Final thoughts on the second-gen Ring Spotlight Cam
Ring’s spotlight camera is in better shape than ever, and remains one of my favorite options for dark areas where a floodlight isn’t a great solution. It’s also cheaper than many floodlights at $170, which is a high price for a single camera, but helped by the extra features. Yes, the batteries will drain fast when the spotlight is activated repeatedly, but the extensive customization options and ability to add a second battery pack help alleviate that issue. Plus, you can always add a Ring solar panel.
However, there is some give-and-take I’m less enthused about. Starting at $20, Ring’s professional monitoring and AI package is pricey, and while video descriptions and summaries certainly save time, they’re rarely worth such a high price. Then there are features like Search Party and Familiar Faces that users may not want at all for privacy reasons, and may need to double-check or opt out of when they’re paying a subscription.
But if you’re willing to take the many (and I mean many) customization options into your own hands, this is one of the best spotlight cams currently available, especially in the 2K resolution range.
Tyler has worked on, lived with and tested all types of smart home and security technology for over a dozen years, explaining the latest features, privacy tricks, and top recommendations. With degrees in Business Management, Literature and Technical Writing, Tyler takes every opportunity to play with the latest AI technology, push smart devices to their limits and occasionally throw cameras off his roof, all to find the best devices to trust in your life. He always checks with the renters (and pets) in his life to see what smart products can work for everyone, in every living situation. Living in beautiful Bend, Oregon gives Tyler plenty of opportunities to test the latest tech in every kind of weather and temperature. But when not at work, he can be found hiking the trails, trying out a new food recipe for his loved ones, keeping up on his favorite reading, or gaming with good friends.“
Space datacenters proposed by Musk and Bezos ‘catastrophic’ for planet, experts warn
Space datacenters proposed by Musk and Bezos ‘catastrophic’ for planet, experts warn
“A new petition, filed by environmental groups, calls for a review of the environmental impact of proposed space datacenters by SpaceX, Blue Origin, and others. The petition argues that the pollution from satellites and rockets, including black soot, rare metals, and aluminum oxides, could be catastrophic for the planet, potentially damaging the ozone layer and contributing to climate change. The petition also highlights the risk of light pollution and the strain on resources required for these projects.
New US petition demands review of plans from tech companies amid fears of environmental destruction
Space datacenters proposed by SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and others would release staggering levels of pollution that would probably alter the Earth’s atmosphere and be “catastrophic” for the planet, space industry experts and environmental groups warn in a new petition demanding a review of their impacts.
Tech companies have collectively proposed millions of “orbital datacenters” and are pressing forward with plans, which require Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. Among other issues, pollution from satellites and rockets burning up upon re-entry appears to be accumulating in the stratosphere at alarming levels. The spacecraft release black soot, rare metals, aluminum oxides and other pollutants with unknown effects.
Some scientists fear the pollution could destroy the ozone layer, potentially expose some people to higher levels of ultraviolet radiation, or help further destabilize the planet during the climate crisis. The pollution could also end up back on Earth, and millions of satellites would create a major source of light pollution.
The petition submitted to the FCC calls for a pause on new licenses for space data center projects, arguing that the plans “violate federal law”.
The datacenter companies “describe their plans in grandiose, civilization-changing terms”, the petition states. “But these same proponents have refused to embrace any inquiry into the impacts of their self-claimed epochal technology on the environment, science, economy, or other values.”
The petition was filed by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer) non-profit, the Earthjustice legal non-profit, and the DarkSky International non-profit, which works to protect the sky from light pollution.
Several former federal US space officials told the Guardian they doubt the orbital datacenters are feasible. But putting millions of additional satellites into orbit would create a significant environmental risk, said Steve Volz, the former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) satellite office.
“There is a lot of complex material in these things, and even if they do burn up, you do not want to be filling up the atmosphere with refuse from these any more than you would want it coming from a smoke stack,” Volz said. Volz was with the agency until he was put on leave and eventually fired under the Trump administration.
Facing fierce public opposition from across the political spectrum to its datacenters on Earth, big tech last year began floating the idea of launching satellite datacenters into space. Some have begun seeking permits.
The number of active satellites in orbit has grown exponentially from about 1,400 in 2015 to about 15,000 currently. As many as 100,000 are expected to be in orbit within the decade, not including the datacenter networks. As of now, the bulk of the satellites’ pollution is thought to come from Starlink and Amazon’s “mega constellations” that provide broadband internet made up of about 10,000 satellites.
Spacecraft can cause problems on their way up and down. Launches emit a range of emissions like black carbon, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, aluminum oxide, chlorine gases and, once in orbit, mercury. When satellites are decommissioned five to 15 years later, they release metals as they vaporize. That’s injecting pollutants into previously pristine parts of the stratosphere, a highly sensitive system, and there’s very little understanding of the consequences.
Scientists only began to discover some of the impact in late 2023, when a Noaa-sponsored stratospheric measurement flight found metals in sulfuric acid aerosols that make up much of the stratosphere. These aerosols are thought to play an outsize role in regulating the Earth’s temperature, and may partly function as a planetary “sunscreen” by creating high-level clouds that reflect solar radiation, and they simultaneously keep greenhouse gases and pollution from entering the ozone layer from below.
But how the spacecraft metals, naturally occurring metals and sulfuric acid aerosols interact is “largely unknown”, scientists behind the study said. Further research has not been conducted under Trump.
Meanwhile, advocates say plants and animals rely on the darkness, and light pollution is contributing to firefly and other insect die-offs.
“These projects could permanently alter the night sky as we know it,” said Ruskin Hartley, executive director of DarkSky International. “The FCC needs to take seriously its obligation to ensure these projects do not cause unnecessary harm to naturally dark skies.”
Cole Donovan, a former Noaa space policy expert now with the Stand Up for Science non-profit, noted that the space datacenters would demand a huge amount of rare metals and other resources that are already in short supply, creating another environmental challenge on the ground.
The proliferation of satellites raises a raft of new legal and environmental questions. The petition claims Congress requires the FCC to determine “whether the public interest, convenience, and necessity will be served by the granting” of an application to operate a satellite.
The groups say the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa), which requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts of their proposed projects, covers the satellites. Nepa would provide mechanisms to “assess impacts, propose alternatives, examine mitigation, and disclose risks that would help inform whether such proposals are in the public interest,” the petition states.
Among those requesting permits is the Cowboy Space Corporation, which was founded by the billionaire co-CEO of Robinhood, who aspires “to build an American power grid in space”. It wants to establish a 20,000-satellite system, with its first launch in 2028. The petition states that Cowboy Space’s only reference to environmental mitigation in its FCC application is a promise that the constellation “will be designed and operated to minimize potential impact on the astronomy community”.
The petition notes that SpaceX claims in its FCC application that its orbital datacenters will “ensur[e] humanity’s multi-planetary future amongst the stars”, but its only reference to environmental risk is a claim that it would “develop industry-leading brightness mitigations”, though it offers no other detail.
Ultimately, the tech companies’ FCC applications provide no meaningful consideration of environmental consequences, the petition states.
“No proponent has provided satisfactory detail to explain how it will mitigate the cumulative environmental harms flowing from the foreseeable operation of more than a million satellites, orbiting our planet, colliding and disintegrating and plummeting back to Earth,” the petition states.“
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