> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://justincox.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Hot Dogs Broke My Algorithm - URL: https://justincox.com/blog/2026/06/hot-dogs-broke-my-algorithm/ - Published: 2026-06-02T11:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-06-02T11:00:00.000Z - Description: This Just In: There is a lot of hot dog content on Instagram. - Author: Justin Cox - Tags: Humor, Social Media A few months ago, a friend invented a back story for my *character* — the character being me in my everyday life. According to this lore, I am *obsessed* with hot dogs — it's the reason I have a Costco membership and go to baseball games. What started as a silly joke ended up hilariously destroying my Instagram algorithm. We'll get to that in a minute, but first, the escalation. The hot dog backstory is funny and not grounded in reality — I mean, I do enjoy a hot dog from time to time but wouldn't say I'm obsessed. Though, to be fair, a classic Chicago dog is peak weenier. And a one of my current hyper-fixation meals is hot dogs and baked beans over sweet potatoes, but is that because of the gaslighting or something that would have occurred naturally? Anyway, there's a philosophical concept called the [frequency illusion](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/frequency-illusion?ref=justincox.com). It asserts that when our brains are introduced to a new word or concept, we start to recognize it *everywhere* in our lives — for a *deep* cut look at this phenomenon, check out [The Kia Soul Conspiracy](https://justincox.com/blog/2017/04/the-kia-soul-conspiracy/). Thanks to the frequency illusion, I became acutely aware of hot dogs — I was a hot dog *savant*, if you will. Shopping in the condiment aisle at Costco, I came across two unconnected shoppers discussing the new grilling pack. It *used* to have two ketchups, one mustard, and one relish. Now, it contains two ketchups, one mustard, and one *barbecue*. One customer could not believe they removed the relish while another said there is no better way to eat a hot dog than with barbecue. As a new found expert in the field, I threw in my support with a "100% agree" as I walked by. After all, a dog draped in bbq, a slice of cheese, and some pickles is a great meal that hits all your food groups. Later in the store, I ran into that person again and she introduced me to her partner as "the guy who knows how to eat a proper hot dog." I didn't share with her that I'm actually the king of hot dogs now because it's important to keep a humble head. For the record, the condiment pack should have *one* ketchup and bring back the relish. Costco and Heinz people, call me. A few weeks later, the same friend that created my new backstory, turned me into a hot dog suit wearing SIM — really, this was the proper next step in my evolution. As is wont to happen with Instagram, it started to surface a Costco hot dog related video here and there — I saw a guy who 3D-printed a holster for his Costco dog, another who rolled their Costco pizza slice up around the hot dog for extra protein or something. These were all pretty harmless, but I was *not* ready for what was to come. Over time, the hot dog SIM version of me becomes a beacon of success — he ran companies, learned rocket science for fun, just crushed everything. Imitation is the highest form of flattery after all. Real world me starts to get a few non-Costco related hot dog reels here and there. But boy, were things about to change. One night I returned from traveling and pulled up Instagram to unwind, as one does. My feed, practically out of nowhere, was *wall to wall* hot dogs. I had hot dog hacks, hot dog needlepoint, AI-generated talking weeniers, goodwill hot dog finds, hot dog sculptures — pretty much anything you can think of, I had the hot dog version showing up in my feed. With the exception of the ads, Instagram *only* showed me hot dogs. Watch these videos and enter into my insanity: 0:00 /0:18 1× 0:00 /0:22 1× I'd never seen anything like this — a *single topic* feed. And, as far as I know, frequency illusion can't control an algorithm. Instagram does not have camera or microphone access, but somehow the internet gods *knew* — either that or this is like the System AI setting Carl up to step on things. I have no idea how it happened or if it will happen again in the future — nor did I have any idea that so many people were making hot dog content. There's an entire subculture out there. Maybe I'm meant to be part of it — maybe this is truly my destiny. I started intentionally watching any non hot dog related video I could find and cleansed my feed as best as I could. It's been a few days and there have thankfully only been limited weenier sightings. The SIM is reportedly still thriving and I made another batch of bean dog potato for this week. I think all is right in the world.