1/ A had recent chilling conversation with a group of teenagers and I want to tell you about it. They were upset by my bill to ban social media's use of algorithmic boosting to teens. This practice is used to curate (often harmful) content to keep kids addicted to screens.
2/ I told them the result of my bill might be that kids would have to work a little harder to find relevant content. They were concerned by this. They strongly defended the TikTok/YouTube/ algorithms as essential to their lives. "It's how we find community," one said.
3/ It was as if they couldn't contemplate having to "work" to find fulfilling content. They saw no value in the exercise of exploration. They were perfectly content having a machine spoon feed them information, entertainment and connection.
4/ I told the kids that algorithmic boosting wasn't essential for happiness. On the contrary, I suggested that contentment might actually come by exerting effort to achieve reward. Maybe receiving rewards on a conveyor belt is kind of numbing and empty. They weren't convinced.
5/ As the conversation broke up, a teacher whispered to me, "These kids don't realize how addicted they are. It's scary." I thought the same thing.
6/ I don't think it's a coincidence that young people's mental health has been deteriorating as social media takes over their lives. And it's not just that kids are withdrawing from real life into their screens. There's something else going on.
7/ A vital part of childhood is the rituals of discovery: the journey of finding what excites you and what connects you to others. I worry that those rituals are being replaced by the algorithm. And kids are in the dark about what they have lost.
@ChrisMurphyCT @threadreaderapp unroll please
@ChrisMurphyCT Sympathetic toward both this and your critics’ perspectives. There is undoubtedly huge value in search and exploration. Pre-algorithms though, very few people engaged in it. What system interventions could encourage more exploration?
@ChrisMurphyCT Kids are doing the best they can. The way you come off in this tweet isn’t endearing. It sounds like they’re afraid to lose their community. Which might not seem real to you but I assure you, it is to them. Might be different from your idea of community but it’s not less.
@ChrisMurphyCT This is where you lost me on this entire social media thing. The kids told you that social media is where they find community and your response is that they should have to work harder for it. Instead of listening all you want to do is dictate. Typical Democrat
@ChrisMurphyCT Gee ya think if we arrested more pedofiles who are embedded in every aspect of their lives we might be able to put them on a bike and send them out to climb trees, swim in lakes, build swings, etc? How about providing funding for parents to track their kids via personal beacons?
@ChrisMurphyCT we didn’t have YouTube and its amazing content (and ability to learn) growing up. And that’s a shame. Social media is overall a positive force for exploration. Banning kids from accessing it, is not. Algos or not, this is a decision for parents, not a Senator from Connecticut.
@ChrisMurphyCT @davidaxelrod I don't know that the *rituals* of discovery are all that important in themselves.
@ChrisMurphyCT I felt that way about books sold online...when I wandered in a book store I saw books I would not have known about if I had been searching online in my usual areas.