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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   7576 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 13, 2025

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I think we should at least mandate that tech companies provide the ability to opt out of maximally addictive features.

For example, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, to an extent X, basically every social app has adopted the “infinite scroll of short video reels” that makes TikTok so addictive.

You used to be able to opt out of automatically being shown “shorts” on YouTube. However, they’ve taken away that option.

Instagram, used to be a place where photography enthusiasts post their pictures. Now it’s an attention on screen maximizer using algorithmic suggestions and infinite scroll short videos.

I read a book recently which if anyone is curious I can link the name, but basically identified that a problem with the digital age is that all of our digital tools and utilities come built in with distraction maximizing features. An article tries to shove 3 videos and 4 advertisements with maximally weird looking photos in my face while I read it. A currency exchange rate app is showing me ads. Everything that I do is trying to grab and divert my attention.

Some people say it’s choice, e.g. it’s my choice to use instagram for example. And I could always go for a dumb phone. Yes, but. The choice has largely been engineered out of my environment. And I believe we should mandate the ability to opt out of addiction and attention maximizing features on the tools and the so called town squares of our digital age.

I’m not sure you could meaningfully enforce a ban on maximally addictive features simply because the entire industry is based on getting, holding and selling your attention. As tge saying goes, “if you’re not paying for it, you are the product.” You can’t really do anything unless you’re going to change the business model. The other option being paid subscription, which to my knowledge has never worked for a social media platform. And absent that, the incentive would be to be as addictive as possible, while avoiding the things the public associates with addictive content. This would be a constant arms race, and likely the social media platforms would win because they can always stay just on the legal side of the line and can deploy new techniques before the regulations can be drafted to stop them.

The choice has largely been engineered out of my environment.

I'm not so sure this is true.

I don't use Instagram, I don't use X, I don't use Snapchat, I quit Facebook a few years ago, I have never installed TikTok. Facebook is the one I miss the most, as it's an easy way to access information on small businesses, and Messenger is an easy way to keep in touch with people you know in real life. WhatsApp is similarly useful outside of the US. But I have no regrets over my abstinence from the other platforms.

I do use YouTube, but not because anyone has engineered me to use it -- I just get net value out of it, and rarely watch shorts.

So I don't see why you'd say that these addictive apps are required. Sure, you won't be able to participate in "the so called town squares of the digital age." But in almost all cases, the actual net value of participating in the so-called town squares is negative. I can confidently predict that you will accomplish nothing of true value on X unless you're profoundly lucky, and even then the harm will exceed the benefit. Your voice will be drowned out by a billion other voices, all nonsensical, and your greatest triumphs will be forgotten in an instant.

There are absolutely choices that have been realistically taken away by the environment, like not having a smartphone or not reading messages on the go. There may also be careers where some level of networking online is necessary. But none of that requires anyone to use Instagram or TikTok or X, unless you are a social media manager. And the job of a social media manager is emphatically not to watch shorts, any more than the job of a bartender is to drink alcohol.

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