How Dangerous Is Social Media? More Than You Know
The new Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma features top executives who previously worked at Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. They offer a well articulated inside view of the dangers of social media, both for you and your family as individuals, and as well as the threat it may pose to global democracy.
You probably know that everything you do online is being watched and tracked. You can tell when ads for a brand keep appearing after you clicked on its link in your social media feed or made a visit to its online store, even though or especially because you didn’t make a purchase.
Although I rarely click on Facebook ads, right now, after a moment of weakness, the “Cat Cave” is pursuing me relentlessly.
Social Media Can Deepen Divisions
The film uses “social” as a loose term to describe activity on social media platforms, search activity like Google and Pinterest, and texting on our phones.
The capacity to track peoples’ interests and send them in different directions can deepens divisions between people. Here’s one example from the trailer and the film that I found especially alarming.
When you use Google to search for "climate change," you'll get a different answer depending on your search history and where you live. One person might get "climate change is real" and another person might get "climate change is a hoax."
I had no idea! I assumed we all received the same search results. The same thing happens on social media like Facebook, where you’re prompted in entirely different ways depending on your past actions on a particular platform.
Social media algorithms don't care about "truth." The algorithm will show you what it thinks you want to see, regardless of its veracity.
Why is that?
Social media is not free. Social media companies make money by selling your attention - YOU are the product - to advertisers. The algorithm will share the posts it believes you want to see, based on your past social media choices, in order to keep you online as long as possible, and thus exposed to more and more ads.
And social media is successful at extending your stay online. These online platforms are some of the richest companies in the history of the world.
But altering information links based on the users previous social activity, limits your view of reality, doesn’t it? Instead of bringing us together, the algorithm on Facebook and other social media platforms can foster deeper polarization, and as a result, fans hatred towards people on the “other side.”
Social Media May Be A Threat to Global Democracy
The way social media is currently designed, in the wrong hands, it can be used to destabilize a country or alter an election. It can foster hate and crimes against groups as happened with the Rohingya people who lived in Myanmar, where Facebook is the default app when you buy a mobile phone.
In previous years, the Facebook algorithm attempted to funnel you into "Pizza Gate" groups if you had shown an interest in topics like chem trails, anti-vaccine theories, or conspiracy theories. Pizza Gate ended in the murder of an innocent individual.
Social Media Can Harm You Too
How often have you lost your sense of time on social media, and emerged an hour or several hours later wondering why you wasted your precious attention on the trivial or unimportant for so long?
It’s not just you, this is how social media has been designed.
Social media uses the same neural circuitry as slot machines and cocaine to keep you online as long as possible. It also plays on your biological need for connection to keep you engaged longer than you really want to be.
You can see how social media makes a deliberate attempt to steal your time in the following example from a Harvard University blog post:
”Consider Instagram’s implementation of a variable-ratio reward schedule. As explained in this 60 Minutes interview, Instagram’s notification algorithms will sometimes withhold “likes” on your photos to deliver them in larger bursts. So when you make your post, you may be disappointed to find less responses than you expected, only to receive them in a larger bunch later on. Your dopamine centers have been primed by those initial negative outcomes to respond robustly to the sudden influx of social appraisal. This use of a variable reward schedule takes advantage of our dopamine-driven desire for social validation, and it optimizes the balance of negative and positive feedback signals until we’ve become habitual users.”
Even the executives featured in The Social Dilemma say they had a hard time resisting social media on the evenings and weekends despite knowing full well the intentional manipulation behind it.
This purposeful persuasion can be even more devastating for teens. There’s been a radical increase in teen and preteen anxiety, depression, and suicide since 2010, when those age groups began to engage more with digital devices and social media.
”We are more profitable to a corporation if we're spending time staring at a screen, staring at an ad than if we're living our life in a rich way. And so, we're seeing the results of that. We're seeing corporations using powerful AI to outsmart us and figure out how to pull our attention towards the things they want us to look at rather than the things that are most consistent with our goals and values of our lives." - The Social Dilemma
I haven’t covered every social media danger in this piece, like cyber bullying, identity theft, or online predators, just the ones focused upon in The Social Dilemma.
Solutions to the Social Media Dilemma
The problems inherent in advertising-based social media can only be solved through massive public pressure. For now, here are some steps you can take suggested by the executives interviewed on The Social Dilemma.
Start conversations about the problem.
Voice your opinion.
Uninstall social media apps on your phone.
Turn off notifications.
Use Qwant (no cookies, no tracking) instead of Google search.
Never accept a video recommendation on YouTube. Always make your own choices.
Use a Chrome extension that removes recommendations.
Don’t allow your kids to use social media until high school or even age 16.
Work out a reasonable social media time budget with your children.
Establish a limit of no social media after a set time in the evenings.
Delete your social media accounts. Only one person suggested this, and he admitted it’s not a realistic option for most people. But some might consider it.
And, watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix. You won’t get the full impact of this important message from reading this blog post alone.
Social Media Needs to Change
Social media began as a way to connect with family and friends. No one intended these consequences. There isn’t one evil genius behind it all attempting to subvert your individual sovereignty or global democracy.
In fact, all these executives thought they were contributing to a better world through their previous work at social media companies. And there’s a lot of good that happens on social media too. No one is asking you to delete your social media account, but rather to use them with more awareness, and to speak up about the problems in social media.
As long as social media operates on an advertisement based profit model without regulation, it will continue to function in the same manipulative and divisive ways. These executives believe social media, as it’s currently designed, could quickly lead to dystopian outcomes if we don’t wake up, redesign it, and put appropriate regulations in place.
It’s not a question of cyborgs taking taking over the world in the future. Artificial intelligence already dominates our lives through social media.
The Social Dilemma:
Also recommended, a powerful talk by a former CIA Analyst, diplomat and security advisor for the White House and former Facebook executive on the social media threat to democracy.
Your Thoughts?
What do you think? Were you aware of these social media dangers? Have you altered your social media engagement as a result? I would love to hear in the comments.
Thank you for your presence, I know your time is precious! Don’t forget to sign up for Wild Arisings, my twice monthly letters from the heart filled with insights, inspiration, and ideas to help you connect with and live from your truest self.
You might also like to check out my Living with Ease course or visit my Self-Care Shop. May you be happy, well, and safe – always. With love, Sandra
