Olympic excitement disappearing exposes how thoroughly algorithms control what reaches you. You normally feel the buildup to major sporting events. Previews, athlete profiles, countdown coverage. This time? Nothing. Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics approach and your awareness sits at zero. Your Instagram feed delivers flooring installation videos and woodworking content because those match your click history. Olympic coverage exists but lives in a parallel universe your algorithm never shows you.

The loss isn’t the Olympics specifically. It’s serendipitous discovery. Newspapers used to place stories in front of you regardless of interest. You’d encounter subjects you wouldn’t actively seek. Addison’s friend still loves picking up newspapers for exactly that reason. Algorithms killed that mechanism entirely. They show only what you’ve already demonstrated you want. NBC lost $873 million on Vancouver 2010 Olympics but threw a massive party anyway because ratings justified the investment. That economic model assumed cultural saturation. Now events reach only people already interested, fracturing what used to be shared experiences.

You’re living in a curated bubble without choosing it. Other people exist in different bubbles seeing completely different realities. Major cultural moments happen and entire populations remain unaware because the algorithm decided they wouldn’t care based on past behavior.

Topics: algorithm filter bubble, Olympic hype decline, serendipitous discovery, media curation problems, shared cultural experiences

GUEST: Bob Addison | @‌riobobbo

Originally aired on2026-02-03