Aisha and the Algorithm

Aisha was fourteen and beautiful. She did not believe it. The algorithm noticed.

It started with diet videos. Then fitness content that became thinner, more extreme. Then pro-anorexia content disguised as wellness. Aisha stopped eating breakfast. Then lunch. She weighed herself eleven times a day.

Social media algorithms learn what keeps you watching. If you linger on body-comparison content, the algorithm feeds you more. It does not care about your health. It cares about your engagement. Your insecurity is its profit.

Her cross-country coach, her coach, noticed. She sat beside Aisha on the bleachers and said: “I’m worried about you. Not as your coach. As someone who cares.” Two days later, Aisha walked into the guidance office and said: “I think I need to talk to someone about food.”

Her first meal back: a bowl of soup. Her hands shook. But she lifted the spoon. One spoonful at a time, she chose herself over the algorithm.

You were designed by a Creator who called you good before you ever saw a screen. The mirror in God’s hands shows something different than the mirror in the algorithm’s hands. One reflects truth. The other reflects profit.