Why Social Media is Not TV

There has always been criticism and concern related to new technology and its effects on society. Conrad Gessner warned of how the modern world overwhelmed people with data and that this overabundance was both “confusing and harmful”. This warning came in the 1500s. In response to the printing press.¹

The recent uptick in criticism of social media would seem to be in line with many historical warnings regarding what were ultimately viewed as advancements in knowledge, accessibility, storytelling, and entertainment.

On Television

In our more recent history TV has faced criticism from both expert and layperson alike. From experts in the form of studies linking it to a sedentary lifestyle and early-onset dementia,² to everyday terminology, “boob tube”, “idiot box”, “couch potato”.

But it has given us many cultural touchstones, and as it ages its programing is a source of nostalgia and often creative inspiration. 

The criticism is still valid but largely tempered with studies pointing out how there are genetic and economic conditions which factor into the damage.³

As a result, many social critics and lovers of tech pooh-pooh the disparagement of social media. Considering such critiques just another examples of Luddites being unable to adapt. 

Or to take a great quote from Douglas Adams’ in ‘Salmon of Doubt’,

“1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.

2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.

3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.” 

But what of the critics, the studies, the warnings about social media? How is social media different from TV in terms of being just another passive form of entertainment?

On Social Media

Social Media is designed to keep you hooked. While clearly the different channels on Television were vying for your attention Social Media is built on your most primitive impulses. 

Take your News Feed. The concept of infinite scroll came from the mind of technology engineer Aza Raskin. This allows users to endlessly swipe down through content without clicking.

“If you don’t give your brain time to catch up with your impulses,” Mr Raskin said, “you just keep scrolling.”He said the innovation kept users looking at their phones far longer than necessary.⁴

Supercomputer Pointing at Your Brain

Tristan Harris is the director and a co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, and co-founder of the Time Well Spent movement. 

He has made it his mission to make people aware that there are hundreds of scientists and technologists on the other side of the computer trying to make you spend more time on the platform. 

“When you open up that video you’re activating Google’s billions of dollars of computing power and they’ve looked at what has ever gotten 2 billion human animals to click on another video,” Harris points out in an interview with Wired. ⁵ 

“If you think of your mind as a chessboard, and you think you know the perfect move to play—I’ll just watch this one video. But you can only see so many moves ahead on the chessboard. But the computer sees your mind and it says, “No, no, no. I’ve played a billion simulations of this chess game before on these other human animals watching YouTube,” and it’s going to win.”

As platforms are dependent on advertising. Your attention, at any cost, is the goal.

Irregularly Timed Rewards

Sean Parker, the 38-year-old founding president of Facebook has been very candid about the usage of irregularly timed rewards, “The thought process was: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’” Whenever someone likes or comments on a post or photograph, he said, “we… give you a little dopamine hit”.⁶  Chamath Palihapitiya, former Vice President of User Growth at Facebook recently told an audience of Stanford students he felt “tremendous guilt” and that “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works.” ⁷

These are damning condemnations, from Tech insiders.

Accessibility

The mobile nature of phones alone makes social media a more consistent draw than TV was. It is with us at work, in transit, at home, in our bedrooms. Essentially on our person at all times. The ubiquitousness of mobile phones and society’s insistence on connectivity make the lure difficult to escape.

So What Do We Do?

You could use an app like Thrive to suppress incoming calls, notifications and messages. In the case of Thrive data can be collected about how much time you spend using specific apps. It will then present this feedback in pie chart form and you can self-impose limits based on this after which the app cuts you off. 

Take a break. Small breaks uninstalling social media can help you get a sense of how dependent you are. Go for a walk (sans phone).

Don’t use your phone as your alarm clock.

Be mindful. Check your social media with intention, not compulsively. You could designate a specific time of day where you will check your socials for example.

“The average person checks their phone 150 times a day. Why do we do this? Are we making 150 conscious choices?”

Tristan Harris

While all new technologies are viewed with scrutiny, the business model of social media combined with analytics, data, and our own compulsive urges is an undeniably hard one to beat.

You can counteract this with knowledge. And, as always, be mindful.

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References:

1. Boo! A brief history of technology scares – MCLEAN’S
2. Effect of Early Adult Patterns of Physical Activity and Television Viewing on Midlife Cognitive Function – Jama Network
3. Does TV Rot Your Brain? – Scientific American
4. Social media apps are ‘deliberately’ addictive to users – BBC News
5. When Tech Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself – Wired
6. Has dopamine got us hooked on tech? – The Guardian
7. Dopamine, Smartphones & You: A battle for your time – Harvard University
8. Image by Erik Lucatero from Pixabay