Much in social media about the harmful effects of too much time spent glued to the seemingly never-ending stream of social networks. We know the addictive nature of social media feeds the brain with the rewarding dopamine chemical that when taken to an extreme puts a person into a “dopamine deficit state” which can spiral down to depression and anxiety, in addition to sleeplessness, according to Anna Lembke, MD and author of Dopamine Nation (2021).
In Jonathan Haidt’s Atlantic article (Yes, Social Media Really Is Undermining Democracy, 2022), he likens social media to the tobacco companies before they were willing to admit any evidence of the damaging effects of smoking. There is a large sea of data about the effects of social media on American life and Facebook’s Meta will not capitulate to the argument that there is enough evidence to prove its harmful effects. Haidt’s article goes onto say:
“Even if social media really did begin to undermine democracy (and institutional trust and teen mental health) in the early 2010s, we should not expect social science to ‘settle’ the matter until the 2030s.”
By the time we get to this point it may be too late to make changes if harm has been done. Solutions offered in Johann Hari’s book titled Stolen Focus (2022) include banning what Professor Shoshana Zuboff calls “surveillance capitalism” involving excessive online tracking and selling private information.
If social media governance shifted from the private to the public sector that would disrupt the current profit-focused business model. If this were to happen technological progress may slow down enough to allow for more consideration of the implications to the human race.
The technological tail has been wagging the dog for way too long and it’s time for it to change.
On A Mission 
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