12 July

I’ve studied social media since it began. It’s both the most seductive thing humanity has ever invented, and the most dangerous. It’s classic bait-and-switch, the platforms vacuumed up whole populations, by offering them a sweet plum they couldn’t resist. A way to be socially connected. Like the old social pages in the local newspaper, most peoples’ favourite bit. The switch then is to use your personal life to generate revenue and prosecute political causes. These platforms are not the public spaces we use them as. They’re tightly controlled locations owned by private companies, run by revenue-maximising algorithms. Those algorithms are designed to maximise conflict, because conflict generates likes. And likes generate revenue. The platforms now more or less own our most personal, social lives. People literally transact a large part of their lives, through these platforms. They shop, organise family events, share family news, etc. And it’s not just a ‘tool’, the algorithms determine what you see here, which in turn shapes you both emotionally and psychologically. They will feed you the things that generate the most reaction, the most clicks and likes. Like force-feeding sugar or heroin. The single worst thing you can use social media for is the thing people overwhelmingly use it for. To transact your personal life. To share what you and your friends and family are doing. By doing that you’re allowing the platforms to not only monetise your social relationships, but you’re introducing the conflictual social comparison of the algorithms, into your social life. I’ve seen families split apart by it.