By Frank Privitera, President
In today’s society, we are faced with having an unprecedented mix of advanced technology integrating gobs of computing power, high-quality audio, high-definition video, and speech-guided automation into our daily lives. This has enabled a social media revolution that has permanently changed the landscape of communication, development, discourse, and news reporting. The Social Dilemma, a new Netflix documentary, attempts to look inside the world of social media and its role in our society. More importantly, it describes the ways social media is, and can be, used to do everything from sell products to shape opinions. This documentary addresses how technology companies are using artificial intelligence, human psychology, and massive parallel computing techniques to build highly-customized models of each user and then leveraging those models to precisely sell access to your screen to businesses, politicians, and governments.
With this realization, we are starting to understand the impact growing up in this world will have on our children and must recognize that we cannot put the genie back in the bottle. The responsibility falls on us to navigate these platforms’ capability for good and evil alike and educate our children on how to live in this new world. Expecting laws to catch up or trap Silicon Valley is a fool’s errand. This is our children’s reality, and we cannot afford to put on blinders. Instead, as parents of every generation have done before, we must adapt and guide our children through this mine field of new challenges.
It is imperative that we understand how to use these platforms responsibly; just because they are free does not mean they have zero cost. You spend something far more valuable than money on these platforms; you give your time and your attention, and there are hundreds of companies paying millions of dollars each day to get a slice of your thoughts and interests. Be wary of anything that makes you as comfortable as social media does, like when they offer numerous opinions you agree with and then a few you absolutely denounce. Where is the middle ground? Unfortunately, the gray area is not compatible with validating you and making you stay online longer to buy things.
A much better tactic is to place the perfect ads in front of you, almost like they were listening to your conversation. Now, they might be, and it would benefit you to check your device settings to find out for sure. However, they have no need to listen when they can read your email, see what gets your attention on your feed, and watch every photo, opinion, group, and product you like or dislike. Make no mistake; those free services come at a great cost. You are for sale.
These platforms can have great value and provide a wonderful resource for communicating, but you must recognize how they work and use them to your advantage. Always remember that you are the product, and your time and attention are what they are optimizing to keep. Once you understand that, you can make decisions that lead to outcomes that benefit you, rather than mostly benefitting the platform you are using.
Photo by dole777 on Unsplash