‘Brain rot’ is the Oxford word of the year – a fitting choice, given the startling impact the internet is having on our grey matter, says journalist Siân Boyle
This article gets so close but it feels like it goes right past the actual point.
Profit motivated tech companies are weaponising psychology to dominate your time. There’s nothing stopping them from turning your reward system against yourself. Plus given this time is generally being spent on passive consumption, of course people are gonna end up dumber—brains need exercise just like the rest of your body.
Regulation is basically the only way to remedy this (beyond actually nationalising these organisations) and unfortunately it’s gonna have to be American regulation for the most part, which I’m not gonna hold my breath for under the next administration
You mean because of Freedom of Speech? I think it’s not that hard; your freedom ends where someone else’s freedom begins. Propaganda and advertising for example are designed to force you into believing something / thinking in ways that you wouldn’t, so you are effectively cut off from thinking and believing like you would have been doing without that pressure.
An independent NGO or watchdog kind of regulatory body staffed by psychology and technology experts with the legislative teeth to issue cease notices with meaningful fines to back them up (take the GDPR penalties as inspiration) should a media platform implement a harmful user experience.
It would be important that the organisation is protected from lobbying interests and direct control from the elected politicians. Though obviously its existence would hinge on the corresponding legislation being persisted.
The result will be a couple of big fines and then everyone else will play ball
This article gets so close but it feels like it goes right past the actual point.
Profit motivated tech companies are weaponising psychology to dominate your time. There’s nothing stopping them from turning your reward system against yourself. Plus given this time is generally being spent on passive consumption, of course people are gonna end up dumber—brains need exercise just like the rest of your body.
Regulation is basically the only way to remedy this (beyond actually nationalising these organisations) and unfortunately it’s gonna have to be American regulation for the most part, which I’m not gonna hold my breath for under the next administration
I just don’t see any way to regulate this without violating the Constitution.
It’s a really tough thing.
You mean because of Freedom of Speech? I think it’s not that hard; your freedom ends where someone else’s freedom begins. Propaganda and advertising for example are designed to force you into believing something / thinking in ways that you wouldn’t, so you are effectively cut off from thinking and believing like you would have been doing without that pressure.
To add to your point, we already restrict or ban certain types of advertising.
That probably depends on which constitution you’re talking about ;)
But I wonder if “for-profit organization may not use recommendation algorithms” would be constitutional in e.g. EU countries.
An independent NGO or watchdog kind of regulatory body staffed by psychology and technology experts with the legislative teeth to issue cease notices with meaningful fines to back them up (take the GDPR penalties as inspiration) should a media platform implement a harmful user experience.
It would be important that the organisation is protected from lobbying interests and direct control from the elected politicians. Though obviously its existence would hinge on the corresponding legislation being persisted.
The result will be a couple of big fines and then everyone else will play ball