Jeff Watkins

Maybe I’m just very stupid, but it seems we’re missing the obvious conclusion here that social media companies built their platforms to be addictive. To everyone.

Children. Adults. Three raccoons in a trenchcoat. It doesn’t matter. They wanted to addict you to their platform.

But yeah, let’s slap ‘em on the wrist and solve the problem by infringing everyone’s rights.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c747x7gz249o

Meta and Google found liable in social media addiction trial

The verdict marks the end of a five-week trial on the addictive nature of social media platforms.

BBC News
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Show threadSean Reilly14h ago
@jeffwatkins I doubt this will hold up to appeal. I'm not a fan of Meta but algorithms that automatically show you what you want to see aren't going to be banned. Especially not while the tools exist to limit or prevent access to social media. Where were the parents in this situation? Mastodon is also addictive, even without algorithms... Should the instance operators be sued too?
Show threadJeff Watkins13h ago

@seanreilly I think the point I'm trying to make is this shit could be addictive to anyone, not just kids. Like always, we're taking the wrong lessons from things.

We should be outraged that Meta/Google/Twitter deliberately optimised for addiction or as they would put it, engagement. Instead we're jumping to infringe everyone's rights because we need to "think of the children”.

Show threadSean Reilly9h ago
@jeffwatkins I agree that it's addictive to anyone, and not good for society or for individual's ability to focus. On the other hand, I'm not surprised or outraged at Meta/Google/Twitter using it to make more money. That's how advertising-supported services have worked since 24 hour cable news. I guess that's what you're saying, but not sure?