“Feeding the beast that will destroy you.”
- Social network developed to be addictive
- Encourages fake popularity, leaving users feeling empty and needing another hit
- Drives people to keep sharing posts they think will gain other people’s approval
- No civil communication, no cooperation, but misinformation, mistruth
- You don’t realise it but you are being programmed
- Swear off or take a hard break from social media
- Ban children from using social networks
Last month, former Facebook president Sean Parker expressed fears over what the social network is “doing to our children’s brains.” It was developed to be addictive, he said, describing Facebook as a “social-validation feedback loop” that exploited weaknesses in the human psyche.
Now another Facebook alum has come out against the harmful aspects of social media, expressing deep regret over his involvement in the company’s work.
Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook’s former head of user growth, told the Stanford Graduate School of Business that he feels “tremendous guilt” for helping make the company what it is today and over Facebook’s divisive role in society.
Palihapitiya, who is now the CEO of Social Capital, said: “Even though we feigned this whole line of, like, ‘There probably aren’t any really bad unintended consequences,’ I think in the back, deep, deep recesses of our minds, we kind of knew something bad could happen. We have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. That is truly where we are.”
He added that Facebook encourages “fake, brittle popularity,” leaving users feeling empty and needing another hit, and suggested that this “vicious circle” drives people to keep sharing posts that they think will gain other people’s approval.
The social media pioneer said “hearts, likes, thumbs-up” are great for creating “short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops” which please users. They aren’t, however, good for creating conversations which produce any kind of meaningful change in the world.
“The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation, [but] misinformation, mistruth.”
Palihapitiya also noted the dangers of the mob mentality that often takes over on social media networks, citing the case of the seven innocent people were lynched in India when they were accused of kidnappings via WhatsApp.
“If you feed the beast, that beast will destroy you,” he warned his audience.
Palihapitiya advises people to take a “hard break” from social media to undo some of the damage the technology does by preying on user desire for instant gratification.
“If you push back on it, we have a chance to control it and rein it in. It is a point in time where people need a hard break from some of these tools and the things that you rely on.”
Palihapitiya himself has sworn off social media because he doesn’t want to be programmed and manipulated, and he has banned his children from using social networks.
“My solution is I just don’t use these tools anymore. I haven’t for years. I guess I kind of innately didn’t want to get programmed.”
Chamath Palihapitiya and Sean Parker are only the latest in a long list of commentators to have spoken out on the damaging effects of social media.
Will people finally sit up and take heed to cut back on social media before it ruins their lives?