My dear daughter,
When the day starts I am full of ideas to write to you. As the hours go by, sad news and the suffocating atmosphere of stupidity and purposelessness at work leave me mostly bleak thoughts. I should start writing in the morning.
If they’re still “a thing” while you’re growing up, you should stay away from social media and social networks, as much as you can. Especially if they continue to operate the way they do today.
It’s a publicity business. They pretend to put you in contact with friends and other people for free, as well as giving access to content produced by third parties. All the while they are collecting every bit of information about you – consumer profile, places you’re most likely to visit next, how much time you spent on an internet page and even where your mouse is pointing at any given moment on your screen.
They use that data to find out what sort of product you are most likely to buy. They sell that information to advertisers, so they can send you directed content.
The problem is, Facebook’s, Youtube’s or other services’ algorithms are set to keep the user hooked up for as much time as possible on the platform. Which means it will appeal to emotions like fear or anger and turn to increasingly extremist content to keep the person browsing. A “bonus” side-effect is the user will become surrounded in a bubble of content which confirms their biases, beliefs and worldview. They will hardly have any contact with diverging opinions or different ideas.
They were also designed from the start to affect the brain’s reward system. Every time a person gets a “like” or more views or gets an opinion reaffirmed by peers, the brain floods with dopamine. As the effect wears out, the person will need longer lengths of time skimming the platform to get the same effect.
This has helped fascism to resurge throughout the world in a time we thought it was dead and buried. The far-right quickly learned how to fraudulently hijack social networks to their own obscure agendas. And big tech companies gladly obliged to increase profits.
Facebook has even been linked with the spread of genocide against rohingya muslims in Myanmar. It was a key element in the ascension of Trump in the USA, Bolsonaro in Brazil and the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom.
In many ways, they are worse than TV, radio or newspapers have ever been. The point is, don’t ever let anything or anyone control what you see, read or learn.
Love,
Dad
Aspergers Dad 