The Algorithm is Winning!
“You can look at your screen at the house, but not on our walk,” the man says to his roughly 9 year-old son as I walk by.
I look back a few minutes later, and the child is sitting on the walking path, as both parents hover over him, seemingly trying to get him to walk.
I wonder how many conversations like this happen everyday.
When it comes to focusing our attention on our own (rather than technology dictating where we focus our attention) as a society, we are getting destroyed.
Case in point:
Meta shares jumped on Friday after profit tripled in the fourth quarter. Revenue rose 25% in the quarter, and its stock went up over 20%.
What does this mean?
It means we are clicking a hell of a lot of Instagram and Facebook ads!
Last year Meta bragged to investors that advancement in their AI increased user time on Instagram by 24%. Clearly their AI is getting better and better.
I don’t think we can blame Meta.
If there’s a switch they can flip that can increase ad revenue by 25%, they are going to flip it, and advancements in AI is that switch.
Here is the challenge though:
The algorithms are getting so sophisticated that kids (and the rest of us) cannot compete. The algorithms know us better than we know ourselves. If an AI wants to keep us on a platform, it finds ways to do so.
We are creating a society where both youth and adults need constant stimuli and entertainment … and if I am not entertained, well, we have a problem!
In fact, If I do not have a screen, I am going to sit down on the walking path and refuse to go any further!
If we look at any of the statistics on youth mental health, signs are not good.
Algorithms do not care that you need sleep or exercise or love… they want you on a platform ALL the time. In our battle to support time with family and kids, time with ourselves in contemplation, and time in nature … clearly the algorithms are winning!
A few things can happen:
We change the age at which kids can join social media to 15 or 16.
We force the companies (as Europe has) to provide an ad-free option, especially for kids.
We make the companies fund mandatory education classes in every school educating kids on how algorithms work to keep them hooked.
While I believe AI is here to stay, and it will have incredible benefits to society, human well-being is at stake, and I hope we can find our way through.
We will be holding online sessions on this topic as well as exploring more at Wisdom 2.0 2024.
But for now, I think it is worth acknowledging, the virtual algorithm-enhanced world is taking over, and it shows no signs of slowing down.
Blessings,
SOREN
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So very relevant, great post. I feel this battle personally each day, as a parent, as an entrepreneur: The Attention Economy is the era we MUST master, or we are lost...to each other, even to ourselves.
Such an important conversation x