The internet is riddled with content intent on alienating people and offering them a false sense of community exploiting their loneliness, precarity and atomisation. What should we do about this?
I’ve had a break from social for a while. I dipped back in briefly on the weekend and immediately found myself falling into old patterns - reacting to the negative, getting annoyed, etc. I logged out. What occurred to me is that people are rewarded for posting that content. Because people don’t respond as much to positive things (on average) we are pushed to post things that get a reaction. Untangling this is complex. Is there not a fourth point which is to educate our children, and anyone who wants to be, about the psychological dangers of internet? We’ve lost most of a generation I suspect. We could save the next. This is at least as hard as your other three points.
Hi Richard. I agree - and I did try to address that at a couple of points by saying we need to be addressing the problem at all ages. Often I think younger people getting unfairly tarred as being the sole culprits / victims. I believe that is far from true. And yes, this is very hard work to do now. But I do think we should be intervening along the lines of a few principles: managing exposure to content through regulation and device management, education, and the empowering people to use that education in their everyday lives, and to protect those around them. I'm also contemplating getting more involved in the movement to stop giving unlimited access of smartphones to kids.
I’ve had a break from social for a while. I dipped back in briefly on the weekend and immediately found myself falling into old patterns - reacting to the negative, getting annoyed, etc. I logged out. What occurred to me is that people are rewarded for posting that content. Because people don’t respond as much to positive things (on average) we are pushed to post things that get a reaction. Untangling this is complex. Is there not a fourth point which is to educate our children, and anyone who wants to be, about the psychological dangers of internet? We’ve lost most of a generation I suspect. We could save the next. This is at least as hard as your other three points.
Hi Richard. I agree - and I did try to address that at a couple of points by saying we need to be addressing the problem at all ages. Often I think younger people getting unfairly tarred as being the sole culprits / victims. I believe that is far from true. And yes, this is very hard work to do now. But I do think we should be intervening along the lines of a few principles: managing exposure to content through regulation and device management, education, and the empowering people to use that education in their everyday lives, and to protect those around them. I'm also contemplating getting more involved in the movement to stop giving unlimited access of smartphones to kids.