10 Arguments for Deleting Social Media Account
Additional media and books to consider:
Black Mirror episode: “Nosedive”
Irresistible by Adam Alter
LikeWar by P.W. Singer and emerson T. Brooking
Study Questions for Lesson #1
One. How does Lanier use cats as a metaphor for freedom vs. brains that get hijacked?
Cats integrate with society but essentially remain independent and free. Humans on the other hand will find that their brains get hijacked in the manner Tristan Harris explains.
What’s scary about getting our brains hijacked is that we don’t know they’re getting hijacked. The process is so gradual it feels natural.
It’s like any addiction in that regard. It sneaks up on you and catches you unawares.
We’re more like dogs and Facebook or some other social media site has become our Master.
Two. How do we allow social media to destroy our free will?
Lanier observes that the smartphone is a “cage we carry around with us everywhere we go.”
We’re being tracked, receiving engineered feedback, and being mined for our data.
We are being molded into specimens for advertising manipulation.
We are being siloed into our political tribe’s bubble.
Beyond Advertising (See Adam Alter’s book Irresistible)
We are living in a world beyond advertising.
We are now living in a bubble of “continuous behavior modification.” I refer you to Adam Alter’s book Irresistible.
Lanier writes that we are test subjects in an experiment, and we are not even aware of this. We should be alarmed, but most of us are not. We are asleep at the wheel, so to speak.
Social media empires are “behavior modification empires,” so writes Lanier.
The Failure of Dopamine (“short-term dopamine feedback loops”)
We get hit with dopamine when we receive likes, followers, and positive feedback. This dopamine becomes a short-term substitute for real self-esteem, real self-confidence, and a real sense of an adult self, but of course this dopamine, like any drug, fails and our tattered self remains the tattered rag that it is.
Jason Lanier is arguing that by becoming addicted to these “short-term dopamine feedback loops” on social media we have lost our free will.
Three. What is the connection between social media addiction and the growing divisiveness and polarization of society?
Lanier argues that the underlying force of both social media addiction and polarization is behavior modification that leads to helpless addiction. This helpless addiction makes us “crazy.” We’re crazy for more and more dopamine fueled by outrage and short-term self-esteem as we lose sight of real cognitive skills to be full realized adults.
“The addict gradually loses touch with the real world and real people. When many people are addicted to manipulative schemes, the world gets dark and crazy” (10).
Four. Do the Tech Lords who make us addicted to social media know it’s bad for us?
Yes, they do. These very same Tech Lords who design social media don’t allow their children to use social media or gadgets. They send their children to expensive Waldorf schools where technology isn’t allowed.
“Don’t get high on your own supply.”
These Tech Lords know they’re dealing with dangerous addiction because they hire consultants who work with gambling sites to maximize addiction (14).
Five. How does social pressure become an unhealthy force in the world of social media?
We read on page 16 that we are hardwired to worry about what others think of us:
“People are keenly sensitive to social status, judgment, and competition. Unlike most animals, people are not only born absolutely helpless, but also remain so for years. We only survive by getting along with family members and others. Social concerns are not optional features of the human brain. They are primal.”
When we receive negative feedback on social media: being ignored, being scorned, being insulted, or being rejected, we experience hurt. We experience physical and emotional pain.
This hurt is a powerful force in controlling our behavior. We feel compelled to curate an existence to others that they would approve of. Social media pours gasoline on the fire of our desire for others’ validation and approval.
Social Anxiety
The resulting social anxiety from social media is probably enough reason to delete our social media accounts.
When we feel rejected, our social anxiety turns into depression, dejection, and despondency.
For those of us who are already vulnerable to this type of social anxiety and depression, social media is a nightmare scenario.
Rewards and punishments as the primary tools for controlling our behavior is called behaviorism.
Six. Why are rewards and punishments (behaviorism), as doled out on social media, degrading to human beings?
On page 18, Lanier writes:
“In the bigger picture, in which people must do more than conform in order for our species to thrive, behaviorism is an inadequate way to think about society. If you want to motivate high value and creative outcomes, as opposed to undertaking rote training, then reward and punishment aren’t the right tools at all.”
The Tech Lords don’t want behaviorism to affect their children. They don’t want their children to be Pavlovian dogs in a behavior modification experiment. That’s why they ban their children from social media and gadgets. The children go to Waldorf schools where they grow organic produce in a garden, make soup for lunch, and do creative projects in class.
We’re seeing the Upper Classes enjoy their power by not being tethered to behavior modification of social media.
The rest of us are like a giant underclass being mind-controlled by the social media and gadgets that the 1% foist upon us. We’re being punked.
The Tech Lords use propaganda: euphemisms for their mind control over us. They love to use the word “engagement,” which really means we’re Pavlovian dogs beholden to punishments and rewards.
We are addicts. Addicts are not engaged. Addicts are mind-numbed zombies, the opposite of engagement.
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