7.10.25

Digital Dharma: The Three Poisons (Part I)

Introduction

We find ourselves in an era of unparalleled technological change, with a heavy dose of optimism. There's been a long-standing societal belief that new technologies will only improve society on an upward trajectory. However, there's almost always a trade-off. In the words of famed media scholar Neil Postman,

"Technology giveth and technology taketh away. This means that for every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage. The disadvantage may exceed in importance the advantage, or the advantage may well be worth the cost. Now, this may seem to be a rather obvious idea, but you would be surprised at how many people believe that new technologies are unmixed blessings."

Nowadays, we can pull a small device out of our pocket anywhere, anytime, and access an infinite source of knowledge, entertainment, shopping, social connection, and more. Our frictionless society has made it easier than ever to supplant any form of real-world experience with a virtual one instead. Had visionaries like Neil or Aldous Huxley been around to see the rise of the smartphone and constant connectivity, they likely would've admitted it to exceed even their wildest imaginations in terms of capability and reach. Yet they too would admit that it has major downsides.

An Anti-Mindfulness Machine

Consumerism. Ah, this word that we're all so very familiar with (even if subconsciously, as we're all immersed in it constantly). Consumerism is the true mantra of our times. As technological improvements have led to ever-greater information delivery speeds, our economic system has grown hungrier and demands to match this. The early era of the Information Age somewhat actually matched the ethos of its founders - truly free, not commercialized, focused on sharing knowledge and community. That rapidly changed with things like the dot-com boom (and subsequent crash). Corporations rapidly figured out ways to monetize the early web (primarily through advertising).

Many social media networks began with a similarly libertarian ethos. Funded by venture capitalists, several of the early social media platforms didn't have any way to generate a profit (even with a rapidly growing userbase). This changed in the late 2000s - corporate interests (aka the VCs) weeded out the libertarian mindset to demand a return on profit - they knew the money potential was there. As such, many people who had worked and graduated out of places like the Stanford Behavior Design Lab found top-dog positions at several of these companies. Millions, in some cases billions, of dollars began to be poured into figuring out ways to maximize time spent on these applications so that the customer (advertisers) could get their money's worth (Because let's be realistic here. In our modern capitalist economy, very few things are truly free, particularly when the dedication of large-scale server demand is required. For social media in particular, the user is the product).

To quote Silicon Valley design ethicist Tristan Harris, "the race to the bottom of the brain stem" led to a complete and total focus within these companies on getting the user as addicted to their platform as humanly possible. To swing it back around to the initial quote from Neil Postman - What are the downsides and upsides of an internet-connected world that demands your attention? Let's lay it out here:

Advantages

  • Instant connectivity and unparalled convenience
  • Endless entertainment (even if you're waiting in line at the store, heaven forbid you sit alone with your own thoughts!)
  • Eternal well of knowledge (well, until you've fried your dopamine receptors for the day)

Disadvantages

  • Addiction and severe lack of attention span
  • Rampant consumerism, sometimes to your mental, physical or even fiscal detriment
  • Mental health issues Comparison is the thief of joy.
  • New heights of political polarization Last time it was this bad, apparently, was in the 1860s here in the U.S.

10.9.24

The Internet as We Know It

I firmly believe we are witnessing the beginning (or maybe even the middle) of the end of the Internet as we know it today.