“Social Media Isn’t Evil.  There Are Neuroscientists In Some Of These Companies, But For The Most

“Social media isn’t evil.  There are neuroscientists in some of these companies, but for the most part I don’t think it was done maliciously.  But advertising is the business model.  And if advertising is the business model, our attention becomes the product.  Two variables matter to the bottom line: the amount of users and the amount of time they spend on platform.  And what gets measured gets optimized.  So our phones have become slot machines.  We scroll and scroll and scroll, and eventually we hit something that gives us a dopamine reward.  It’s by design.  Because slot machines make more money in the US than theme parks, baseball, and movies combined.  Both Vegas and Silicon Valley know that our brains can be manipulated if presented with a certain set of choices.  Obviously addictiveness isn’t the only feature of these platforms. They’ve empowered so many voices.  I’d just love to live in a world where our most influential technology didn’t measure its success by the time it took from us.”