In writing about the dangers of social media, I've encountered the objection that social media probably isn't worth worrying about because people said the same thing about the internet, television, radio, books, and so on. I think this objection is flawed for two reasons.
First, it suggests that these earlier technologies didn't cause very much harm. I disagree. The printed word continues to be an effective means of disseminating misinformation. Murderous dictators used radio to broadcast their propaganda into private homes. Television turned news into entertainment, with disastrous results that we're barely beginning to grapple with today. The internet has fostered deeply meaningful connections, but has also helped conspiracy theories flourish.
The new blink-182 song Dance with Me is extremely catchy, but it can't really be added to playlists or played at the gym, for example, because of the sexual joke at the beginning of the track. I mean, the whole song is about sex—fair enough—and individual sensibilities do differ. Still, the spoken part is so jarring that I wouldn't want to play the song in polite company.
I've encountered this problem before, usually with bonus tracks that play after several minutes of silence. They can be great songs, but there's no great way to add them to playlists, and there's no way to add the first song without the silence and the bonus track. It would be trivial for an app to implement a technical solution to this problem: just let the user choose an offset of some number of seconds and apply that offset whenever the song is played from a playlist. However, it's not clear if that would be worth the added user interface complexity. Most people would never use the feature, and they might be confused if they saw a menu item for it somewhere. Perhaps the easiest solution would be for publishers to release alternate cuts more often. Let's get a version of Dance with Me without the joke. Let's get Maybe I'm Just Tired without the bonus track.
What's wrong with hyperpartisan media? Pick your favorite example of a one-sided TV channel, YouTube channel, website, radio show, podcast, or magazine. If the problem is that these outlets promote overly simplistic, slanted perspectives, never reporting the other side of the story or only reporting half-truths, then why are we not equally worried about social media filter bubbles, given that they are designed to do exactly the same thing?
TikTok, Facebook, and other social media platforms show us what we want to see. They reinforce our existing worldviews. One doesn’t need to think hard to understand why; anything else would be bad for business! Nobody signs in to be told they’re wrong. Nobody enjoys having their reality challenged. Validation is more fun, even when it's unjustified.
I’m concerned about old-style hyperpartisan media, but this new, “social” version is much worse. Many of us walk around with personalized, digital propagandists in our pockets. They push our buttons and beg for our limited attention—buzz, buzz! Sometimes, we spend more time with them than with real human beings, with their nuanced and thoughtful perspectives.
Politics has become a means of self-realization rather than a tool for solving practical problems. Views on enlightenment differ, of course, causing intense conflict and distrust.
To restore our trust in each other and the political process, now may be a good time to focus on common-sense legislation with broad appeal. Let's eliminate daylight saving time, outlaw deceptive resort fees, and begin to regulate social media. Let's stop tech support scammers, strengthen online privacy, and standardize on one charging connector for electric cars. Let's make browser vendors work together to prevent identity theft.
These things may seem inconsequential, but getting along couldn't be more important. Along the way, we might discover that politics doesn't always have to be so acrimonious.
Let's hope you never leave, old friend
Like all good things, on you we depend
So stick around 'cause we might miss you
When we grow tired of all this visual
You had your time, you had the power
You've yet to have your finest hour
Radio!
I've loved this song since hearing it in the film Bohemian Rhapsody. The music is great, but I'm even more attracted to the message. There really is something special about audio as a medium. Podcasts are huge for a reason. Interviews, drama, news, comedy, true crime. Freddie was right.
I wonder if people will lose interest in podcasts when truly hands-free, self-driving cars become more widely available. I myself will certainly have fewer reasons to listen and more opportunities to be distracted by my phone. How strange is that? As a result of having more free time, I may spend less time doing something I enjoy. The attention economy at work?
I’m not optimistic about Threads, the new Twitter alternative from Meta. I’m told the community is pleasant now, but I have no doubt the shitstorm will roll in soon. Fool me once…
A while ago, I wrote that artificial intelligence may soon author new Beatles albums. In hindsight, I feel silly for suggesting that only 50 such records might be produced. If an AI could create 50 new albums in the style of the Beatles, and in their voices, it could create 10,000. It could create them on demand. Want to hear the band singing about hoverboards in a collaboration with Skrillex? Sure.
Today, this is even closer to becoming reality. As Andy Meek writes in BGR, “Thanks to the increasingly creative potential of artificial intelligence… Beatles fans like me can get a small taste of what it might have been like had the Fab Four either stayed together, or gotten back together, to produce new music.”
His article includes some amazing AI-generated mashups as examples, like Paul singing “Imagine,” as well as an unreleased song that AI was able to finish from an incomplete fragment. I'll admit that the reporting is light on details, and there's plenty of “fake AI” stuff going around on social media (no surprises there), but for the moment, I'll take Meek and the creators at their words. If any of these songs was not created with substantial help from AI, they might as well have been, and a future AI will be able to do the same, given how quickly things are accelerating. Our difficulty distinguishing between “real AI” and “fake AI” says something on its own.
I'm intrigued by Boring Report, a news aggregator that uses artificial intelligence to offer “boring” coverage of current events, free of sensationalism and clickbait. As one example, it offered the following headline:
Shakira and Lewis Hamilton Spend Time Together in Miami
for an article originally titled:
Newly-single Shakira enjoys cosy boat trip with Lewis Hamilton just days after pair were spotted at secret dinner
It's not perfect, but I like it. Imagine if all news read this way. How much more normal would the world feel?
