CLAT 2027
English Language
Passage 1: The Paradox of Digital Autonomy
In the early decades of the internet, digital autonomy was celebrated as liberation. The network was imagined as a borderless commons where individuals could shed the constraints of geography, hierarchy, and even identity. Yet, as platforms consolidated power and algorithms began to curate reality itself, a quieter paradox emerged: the more connected we became, the less autonomous we felt.
This paradox is not merely psychological; it is structural. Platforms design for engagement, not enlightenment. Every scroll, click, and pause is harvested as data, refined into predictive models, and sold as attention. Users are not customers but products, their behaviour optimised for advertisers. In this architecture, autonomy is an illusion carefully stage-managed by interfaces that simulate choice while narrowing possibility.
Critics argue that this is not freedom but a new form of enclosure. The digital commons has been fenced, privatised, and monetised. What was once a space of experimentation is now a marketplace of micro-transactions, where even dissent is packaged and sold as content. The result is a peculiar alienation: we speak loudly, yet feel unheard; we connect constantly, yet feel isolated.
Defenders counter that platforms merely reflect human nature. If users crave validation, algorithms will supply it. If outrage drives engagement, then
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