Based on participant-driven media use tracking and self-reflexive media use Vlogs, this article explores how young adult media users make sense of their user agency vis-à-vis algorithms in digital media and how they try actualizing it through reflexive and mundane enactments of algorithmic systems. The article proposes to adapt the concept of ‘small acts of engagement’ to grasp the productive and agentic potentials of how users enact algorithms purposively in daily media use. By engaging research participants actively in reflections to better understand, and possibly respond to the influence of algorithmic power in daily media use, the study unfolds common boundaries of users’ reflexive capabilities, showing how exercising user agency in a datafied age is increasingly complex and prospective, yet not merely limited by algorithmic power. As a result, the article discusses the methodological implications and potentials of engaging media users in reflections and actions to shape their communicative agency, which might be a possible step towards mobilizing algorithmic literacy.

基于参与者驱动的媒体使用跟踪和自我反思的媒体使用 Vlog，本文探讨了年轻的成年媒体用户如何理解他们的用户代理与数字媒体中的算法，以及他们如何尝试通过反思和平凡的制定来实现它的算法系统。本文建议调整“小参与行为”的概念，以掌握用户在日常媒体使用中如何有目的地制定算法的生产和代理潜力。通过让研究参与者积极参与反思，以更好地理解并可能回应算法能力在日常媒体使用中的影响，该研究揭示了用户反思能力的共同界限，展示了在数据化时代行使用户代理权如何变得越来越复杂和前瞻性，但不仅限于算法能力。