When I hear, let’s make a difference, all I see is a consolidated group of individuals with shared interests who work for a common cause which they believe will change the current state of occurrences or simply change the world. With the biased and bifurcated information that I have, I might choose to side with them or oppose them. The side I choose will probably determine the sequence of news and events for me. Thereby with my subconscious approval, a virtual world of what I might like is built for me. So, by a simple choice or ‘like’ that I make on social media, I am routed towards a belief system that may not necessarily be correct.
This is what happens around us.
How often are you surrounded by misleading information and news that routes you to disbelief and denial? If you are on the internet (which you always are), the answer would be, very often, in fact, almost all the time. While most of us are aware of how fake news propagates and fills our news feeds, is it possible to completely weed them out of our lives? With deepfake software propagating via the internet, identifying real from counterfeit is a growing challenge even for tech giants. So, no, you can’t escape it. How about controlling what you want to see as opposed to what somebody else wants to show you? Creepily, the reigns of control for that are also not in our hands.
The revelations in the latest Netflix documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’ might not be shocking for many but is definitely eerie to accept how social technology giants are shifting (or have already shifted) to a model of human mind control. From controlling what we view to how we perceive ourselves, what we have is one twisted concoction for living a confused life. Tristan Harris, Co-founder of Center for Humane Technology, rightfully mentions that ‘the “dilemma” is that social media and related apps simultaneously offer utopia and dystopia.’ In other words, this clouds our vision and subsequent loss of control over technology.
Social media is the most detrimental for youth or the Gen Z population. The life of facade that they live in, thanks to photo-sharing apps, is not only destroying their self-confidence but even pushing them to harm themselves. They are constantly subjected to judgement and strive to build a nearly perfect life, which doesn’t exist, but believe it’s achievable. Mental health has been linked to dejection and isolation. The cocoon one builds around themselves with constant usage of social media is unbreakable, thereby, getting consumed by its poisonous environment from within. It is scary to imagine how this set of youth will grow up to face the actual world; will they be able to face it judiciously?
So is it an overstatement to say that technology is evolving so quickly that now damages need to be undone before further focussing on innovations? Maybe, not. If there is anything that can be done, it can only be done by tech giants. We can probably adopt a few measures on our own. As a parent, we can probably control mobile phone and social media usage by our children, but as adults, it becomes uncontrollable. What’s frightening is that in spite of being an informed user of how algorithms and technology can pretty much control us, I believe we cannot shun ourselves from all of it; ‘a knowledgeable ignorant’ I suppose.
And we are not alone.
