A former Facebook executive made waves in 2017 after he spoke out about his “tremendous guilt” over growing the social network, which he feels has eroded “the core foundations of how people behave by and between each other.” Chamath Palihapitiya began working for Facebook in 2007 and left in 2011 as its vice president for user growth. When he started, he said, there was not much thought given to the long-term negative consequences of developing such a platform.
Now, more than a year later the news is still plagued with stories of how Facebook is abusing the trust it's users have blindly given them. What's frustrating for me is, despite data breaches, shady and illegal use of one's personal information and behavioral data and more, most people just don't care. I've never been a heavy user of social media, I use Instagram lightly and I really only use it a place to save pictures especially since we don't live in a world where people print pictures anymore.
So, i decided to dig - and I didn't need to dig much. I came to the realization people are just plain stupid OR they are so addicted to using their personal devices that they can't help themselves - much like an addict can't help bouncing their rent check to get their next hit of Meth. For example, last year, early Facebook investor Sean Parker said he had become a “conscientious objector” to social media, and that Facebook and others had succeeded by “exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.” A former product manager at the company, Antonio Garcia-Martinez, admitted Facebook lies about its ability to influence people based on the data it collects on them, and wrote a book, Chaos Monkeys, about his work there.
The company was also accused of trying to exploit children and eroding their privacy after it launched an app called Messenger Kids. Facebook has claimed that it will not display ads on Messenger Kids or use its data for advertising on Facebook. But here is where the big lie comes in. The company is collecting a lifetime's worth of data which it will use to torment and influence for the rest of their lives - not just on facebook - everywhere. Data is the new dollar and don't forget that.
I can go on, and on about this topic and how social media is tearing apart the mechanics of our society and how it works. People don't talk anymore, they share "idealized posts" of commercial products disguised as a personal narrative. Idiot's have become famous because of their uniformed blog posts or opinions. The public at large is being hit by so much information that it builds into rage because their lives don't stack up in this new UBER PC turbocharged world and the result is they elect idiots, bigots and corporate thieves - that's the payback folks. And of course - it makes you shop - you just don't know it does (addicts don't believe their addicted either).
I don't have a solution, a hashtag or new Meme for my views. I'm an outlier - and proud to be one #outlier (wink).
