Former Facebook exec says social media is "ripping apart the social fabric" of today's world

[Guestx]

Interesting.

A former Facebook executive has said he feels “tremendous guilt” over his work on “tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works”, joining a growing chorus of critics of the social media giant.

Chamath Palihapitiya, who was vice-president for user growth at Facebook before he left the company in 2011, said: “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth.”

The remarks, which were made at a Stanford Business School event in November, were just surfaced by tech website the Verge on Monday.

“This is not about Russian ads,” he added. “This is a global problem. It is eroding the core foundations of how people behave by and between each other.”

Palihapitiya’s comments last month were made a day after Facebook’s founding president, Sean Parker, criticized the way that the company “exploit a vulnerability in human psychology” by creating a “social-validation feedback loop” during an interview at an Axios event.

Parker had said that he was “something of a conscientious objector” to using social media, a stance echoed by Palihapitiya who said that he was now hoping to use the money he made at Facebook to do good in the world.

“I can’t control them,” Palihapitiya said of his former employer. “I can control my decision, which is that I don’t use that shit. I can control my kids’ decisions, which is that they’re not allowed to use that shit.”

Full article here: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/11/facebook-former-executive-ripping-society-apart

 

[Der Eisbär]

That dude is awesome. I'm a new fan.

 

[Aegon Spengler]

Seems true enough.

Will take a long time to shake this new technology out and find a way to integrate it in our lives in a way that isn't harmful. Hopefully not too long.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Well he’s not wrong.

 

[AGGAMEMNON66]

Good. Let it all burn.

 

[JackWhite]

I really think M. Night should stick to making movies. But that's just my opinion.

 

[punkmother]

well...duh.

 

[Tuf_guy]

He's right you know.

Like this post if you agree.

 

[Spoken]

he's not wrong. What its done to our various kinds of relationships can't be undone. But it was kind of inevitable, you know? technology reorients our entire life. After the internet became a thing, it was only a matter of time until someone continued the theme in this manner

 

[BisexualMMA]

Chamath Peteyandjia? Never liked the guy.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

From Facebook to Bitcoin.

The transition begins.

 

[CrimsonFan]

I think everyone having a smart phone is worse than Facebook.

 

[Hyperglide]

To many people looking down when they should be looking forward. To the horizon and with their lives.

 

[Peteyandjia]

Chamath Peteyandjia? Never liked the guy.

 

[Nimrod]

I was in a bar the other night the amount of people looking into their screens was unreal .. it really was like a scene from the twilight zone .. I just wanted to shout "what you mother fuckers doing"

 

[Peteyandjia]

Related article:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/elpais.com/elpais/2016/01/19/inenglish/1453208692_424660.amp.html

excerpt:

"The difference between a community and a network is that you belong to a community, but a network belongs to you. You feel in control. You can add friends if you wish, you can delete them if you wish. You are in control of the important people to whom you relate. People feel a little better as a result, because loneliness, abandonment, is the great fear in our individualist age. But it’s so easy to add or remove friends on the internet that people fail to learn the real social skills, which you need when you go to the street, when you go to your workplace, where you find lots of people who you need to enter into sensible interaction with."

"Real dialogue isn’t about talking to people who believe the same things as you. Social media don’t teach us to dialogue because it is so easy to avoid controversy… But most people use social media not to unite, not to open their horizons wider, but on the contrary, to cut themselves a comfort zone where the only sounds they hear are the echoes of their own voice, where the only things they see are the reflections of their own face. Social media are very useful, they provide pleasure, but they are a trap."

 

[squeezewax]

I've been saying this for years. The internet in general is great but the downside of it is dangerous and it can bring out the worst in people.

 

[HelloJapan]

Classical conditioning.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

I deleted facebook off my phone a couple of months ago and I literally FELT better. I look at my phone way less now and get on facebook like maybe once a week and that is mostly to check out open mats and events in the NC BJJ group I belong to.

 

[Halge]

Very true. Internet/social media is one of the greatest changes in the history of human society, but people still act like it is just great, period. There are enormous downsides* that it is high time we start to at least acknowledge, even if I don't advocate rash action.

*I don't get why people always add "misinformation" to the list, though. Misinformation has always been a problem, difference is now we have a million other sources to crossreference.
The most misinformed individuals I come across are almost always those who don't use social media.