In my view social media is probably not the problem, but the algorithms they use that are designed to be addictive and manipulative.
I saw an article once arguing that the algorithms should be regulated in a similar way to medicine. Give some base ingredients they can use freely (e.g. sort by newest first), then require any others to run studies to prove they are not harmful.
There would be an expert board that approves or declines the new algorithm in the same way medicines are approved today (the important bit being that they are experts, not politicians making the decision).
excellent take, I never thought of regulation on something digital like an algorithm (concerning social media) to be, I guess, possible when some government officials barely understand what an IP address is.
But that’s the thing, where’s the motivation for this board of experts to exist coming from? There is already plenty of empirical evidence to support the claims of the harms of social media, but in spite of this, change is glacial.
That is why I just generalize and say that social media is the problem, because most people won’t care to hear anything deeper. They are already addicted, and don’t care for a cure.
There is already plenty of empirical evidence to support the claims of the harms of social media, but in spite of this, change is glacial.
I think at one point you could make the same argument about medicines. The problem is that politicians are appointed with a popularity contest.
I don’t remember all the arguments of the article, but when you think about it, the harms of social media are medical. It’s possible that we could expand the scope of the current medicine approval boards to include algorithms, with their job not being to understand the algorithm but to understand the research on mental health.
I don’t have all the answers, but I do think it’s an idea worth exploring.
This is the correct response. Social media, as a construct, is not evil and dos not do harm to anyone. The commodification and commercialisation of social media by capitalistic companies is what has caused the harm we see today.
All of the harms and evils of social media can be boiled down to a single concept: the algorithm. Because algorithmic recommendation of content wants to encourage people to stay on a platform (for capitalistic reasons), and the most enticing and attention-grabbing content is hate-content, these companies have forced hate-inducing concepts down the throats of people in an endeavour to make more money and destroyed individuals and families/friends in the process.
If we regulate the algorithms, we regulate the harm without disempowering anyone. We can, and we should, regulate algorithms on social media to turn it back into what it was 20-odd years ago - a measure to keep in touch with people you know or care about.
Social media does cause harm. It tricks you into thinking you are socializing with those near you when you aren’t. It tricks you into thinking people are talking in good faith, similar to in person communication. Finally, social media is a huge attack vector for scams and abuse due to the anonymity and ability to connect anywhere in the world.
All of these things produce an overwhelmingly negative social experience from social media. That wouldn’t be a problem if our defining trait wasn’t how we socialize in groups. Socializing is as important as water and food for humans.
55% of any message is conveyed through nonverbal elements (facial expressions, gestures, posture, etc).
Crazy how social media is seen as this thing that we somehow have a beneficial relationship with in such a short period of time. Impossible. The brain hasn’t changed much in the past thousands of years.
I wish I saw this kind of insightful point of view more often in the discourse over social media. It’s stopped being about being social once algorithmic content curation became the norm to drive engagement and advertising money which is the real evil.
In my view social media is probably not the problem, but the algorithms they use that are designed to be addictive and manipulative.
I saw an article once arguing that the algorithms should be regulated in a similar way to medicine. Give some base ingredients they can use freely (e.g. sort by newest first), then require any others to run studies to prove they are not harmful.
There would be an expert board that approves or declines the new algorithm in the same way medicines are approved today (the important bit being that they are experts, not politicians making the decision).
excellent take, I never thought of regulation on something digital like an algorithm (concerning social media) to be, I guess, possible when some government officials barely understand what an IP address is.
But that’s the thing, where’s the motivation for this board of experts to exist coming from? There is already plenty of empirical evidence to support the claims of the harms of social media, but in spite of this, change is glacial.
That is why I just generalize and say that social media is the problem, because most people won’t care to hear anything deeper. They are already addicted, and don’t care for a cure.
I think at one point you could make the same argument about medicines. The problem is that politicians are appointed with a popularity contest.
I don’t remember all the arguments of the article, but when you think about it, the harms of social media are medical. It’s possible that we could expand the scope of the current medicine approval boards to include algorithms, with their job not being to understand the algorithm but to understand the research on mental health.
I don’t have all the answers, but I do think it’s an idea worth exploring.
I agree, and neither do I have all the answers. It is worth exploring, I’m just pessimistic most of the time.
This is the correct response. Social media, as a construct, is not evil and dos not do harm to anyone. The commodification and commercialisation of social media by capitalistic companies is what has caused the harm we see today.
All of the harms and evils of social media can be boiled down to a single concept: the algorithm. Because algorithmic recommendation of content wants to encourage people to stay on a platform (for capitalistic reasons), and the most enticing and attention-grabbing content is hate-content, these companies have forced hate-inducing concepts down the throats of people in an endeavour to make more money and destroyed individuals and families/friends in the process.
If we regulate the algorithms, we regulate the harm without disempowering anyone. We can, and we should, regulate algorithms on social media to turn it back into what it was 20-odd years ago - a measure to keep in touch with people you know or care about.
Social media does cause harm. It tricks you into thinking you are socializing with those near you when you aren’t. It tricks you into thinking people are talking in good faith, similar to in person communication. Finally, social media is a huge attack vector for scams and abuse due to the anonymity and ability to connect anywhere in the world.
All of these things produce an overwhelmingly negative social experience from social media. That wouldn’t be a problem if our defining trait wasn’t how we socialize in groups. Socializing is as important as water and food for humans.
55% of any message is conveyed through nonverbal elements (facial expressions, gestures, posture, etc).
Crazy how social media is seen as this thing that we somehow have a beneficial relationship with in such a short period of time. Impossible. The brain hasn’t changed much in the past thousands of years.
I wish I saw this kind of insightful point of view more often in the discourse over social media. It’s stopped being about being social once algorithmic content curation became the norm to drive engagement and advertising money which is the real evil.