Creators Strike Back
Last week I wrote about the documentary The Great Hack that followed the company Cambridge Analytica. This week it was suggested I also watch The Social Dilemma. This documentary interviews a series of tech professionals who were part of the early days of the internet.
The documentary introduces us to a dozen or more tech professionals, professors, and industry leaders who helped build the social platforms we use today. Not one of these people had good things to say about our current social media usage.
There are quantifiable facts that show how social media is slowly tearing down the fabric of our society by polarizing and dividing us. This wasn’t the intention of the platform creators, but the draw of wealth they’ve enjoyed from it makes a it a hard habit for them to break.
The documentary utilizes a combination of interviews, quotes, and a family simulation to show us the real world effects of our screen consumption.
People As Products
One of the quotes used says, “If you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.” And that’s a sobering thought. I may not be speaking for all of us, but there’s a certain unsettling feeling I get knowing that something is actively trying to manipulate me. It’s easy to brush off, but we need to dig into it further.
Your attention is the product being sold. The more the social platforms can capture your attention, the more they can bombard you with content they’re being paid to show you. By creating AI algorithms that zero in on what you like, the platforms are then able to inundate your feed with targeted content that creates an emotional response in you. That emotional response is key. We’re human. Our emotions are how we bond to ideas and to each other.
The problem this has created is that we have moved further and further into a tunnel vision world view. For us, our opinions have become gospel rather than fluctuations of the world around us. We are so polarized into the neat and tidy worldview that makes us feel safe that we can’t even talk to someone who has a varying view from our own. Any assault on the dopamine receptors in our brains makes us instantly back away.
Related Reading Level Up; Updating Your Security
Nowhere has this been more problematic for Americans than in our last two elections. Facebook is absolutely to blame for being allowed to run unregulated misinformation. The grab for money that Facebook prioritized created a country full of polarized individuals. We marvel at the fact that “the other side” can’t see what we see, but social media has made it so they literally cannot see what we see.
Security Risk
All of this manipulation has a real world security risk. We talk about other countries hacking our elections or our social infrastructure. They aren’t actually brute forcing their way into our devices, they’re paying social media for access into our minds.
We discussed the fact that brute force computer hacks weren’t necessary because so many people still click on phishing emails. Social media feeds are phishing platforms. There’s no need for a foreign entity to brute force their military into the US, they can pay social media to infiltrate your ideas. You are the weapon.
And this might all sound hyperbolic and extremist. It’s easy to roll your eyes and say this is ridiculous. We’ve certainly been programmed to shut off things that make us uncomfortable. But hear me out.
Your Data Should Be Your Own
You deserve ownership of your data. Furthermore, you deserve the right to say who can see your data. Social media mines you, creates a profile, and then sells you to the highest bidder. Personally, it makes me feel a little dirty.
So let’s stop giving them access. We had a great conversation here at PC Matic the other day about those popular quizzes you see on Facebook. The amount of data people give away is astounding. One of my co-workers speculated that people would give you their passwords if the quiz was designed the right way.
more,,,,,,,,,,,,
http://techtalk.pcmatic.com/2020/11/12/the-social-dilemma/?utm_source=PC_Matic%20Inc&utm_medium=BlogPost&utm_campaign=2020-11-16_Newsletter_Home&ad_id=506529&share-ad-id=1
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
| 
