Whenever executive leaders of social media platforms are interviewed, they are quick to point out that their children aren’t on any of the social media platforms.
This is as clear an acknowledgement (or a searing indictment) as you would get on the extraordinarily addictive and powerful impact of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, tiktok and X on the lives of billions of people on the planet.
Tristan Harris, who is without question, the most prominent and preeminent social media ethicist around, has been warning us regarding the negatives of logging online for a long minute and we haven’t been paying attention.
Anyone who has seen the Netflix documentary, Social Dilemma, will understand the full extent of the damage done whenever we log on to view our favourite podcast, musician, politician and celebrity.
His willingness to put his head above the parapet isn’t at all dissimilar to the British nutritionist, John Yudkin, whose seminal findings on sugar caused a massive earthquake, not only in academic circles but in the business world in the 1970s, with the man becoming an overnight pariah.
Yudkin’s arguments today have been somewhat accepted and legitimized with cereal companies citing their ingredients, which show that vast numbers of variations of sugar dominate much of their products.
With social media, we are starting to recognize the damage being done to our cognitive system and the point to which we are fixated on our next dopamine hit.
And it was with this in mind that Australia made the all-important decision to ban the various attention seeking platforms for children under 16.
It’s difficult to imagine that Mark Zuckerberg, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pinchai, Jeff Bezos and their ilk will be happy with the unprecedented step from the Australian government given its likely implications for everyone else.
The European Union, which is nothing but a vassal state for America, has begun taking steps, but it’s nowhere near as radical as the antipodean nation, known for its fighting marsupials.
The United Kingdom, which is grappling with its self-inflicted problems is in no position to enact legislation to protect its citizens —young, middle-aged or old.
So where does this leave us?
Clear as to what needs to happen at the highest levels of government and safe in the realization that we can no longer afford to take the extreme intrusion of these platforms for granted.
Having witnessed the full power of the algorithms first hand, everyone’s right to be concerned about artificial intelligence and what it could do to our very existence. And given that our polities are replete with compromised and corrupt politicians, it is inconceivable that democrats and republicans will band together to limit the power of Instagram, Facebook, X or any of the other players over humanity.
And that, my friends, is the elephant in the room.