Hey Friends,

This week I watched a brilliant documentary called 'The Social Dilemma'. It is produced by the Centre for Humane Technology (CHT), and explores issues relating to addiction and privacy when using social media platforms.

While the documentary doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the debate about social media, the strength of the documentary lies in the people talking about the dangers. They are the very same people who helped create them in the first place!

Take Justin Rosenstein, an early Facebook developer who invented the 'like' button. It was interesting to hear him sheepishly talk about how his initial intention with the 'like' button was to 'spread positivity', a way for people to engage with friends and family. Little did he know the impact that tiny little button would have on society.

Indeed, he could not foreseen how much people would use his invention to fulfill a deep human need; the need for validation and to be liked by others. It turns out people's feelings are hurt if they don't get many likes on their posts, so they amend their behaviour to attract more, presenting an inauthentic version of themselves online. The documentary points to a sobering correlation between the introduction of social media and spikes in anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide attempts by girls of Gen Z.

Beyond the problems of addiction, former employees and experts from Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google, and Instagram, also explain that the business model behind many of these platforms has shifted to an 'attention economy' which monetises your thoughts and interactions. They exploit weaknesses in human psychology to keep you on their platforms for as long as possible in order to increase advertising revenues. And here lies a second problem raised by the documentary, misinformation and fake news. It turns out fake news spreads six times faster than true news. A fake story which goes viral will provide more opportunity for advertising revenue, so why would the platform want to stop it spreading? It's easy to see how recent flat earth, 5G and covid theories could become so popular! or how the mass manipulation of public perception is possible during an election campaign!

I would encourage everyone to watch the documentary as it raises some interesting questions. The Centre for Humane Technology (CHT) also raise a myriad of other issues on their website, so check that also.

OK better stop there before I go too conspiratorial!

Have a fantastic week

Chris

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Things I've found interesting this week

\\ One Video link to video trailer of the 'Social Dilemma' documentary

\\ Two website link to the full range of issues relating to social media use

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There are only two industries that call their customers 'users': illegal drugs and software - Edward Tufte

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