DigitalRob reviewed The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher
Review of 'The Chaos Machine' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This is the fourth book I’ve read about the impact of social media on our world and society. It is truly frightening, and these books are the biggest reason I’ve stopped using most social media most of the time. For various reasons, I can’t simply delete my accounts.
I work in education and there is an increase in bad behavior from both students and parents. This increase, the decline of civility, and dramatic polarization of our societies can be directly linked to social media.
Social media is designed to be addictive, and it optimizes individual feeds to increase the time online for users. The best way to extend time online is to promote moral trigger words, which link heavily to outrage. Of course, like the tobacco companies trying to preserve their market, social media companies deny that their products are causing any harm even when their own data contradicts them. …
This is the fourth book I’ve read about the impact of social media on our world and society. It is truly frightening, and these books are the biggest reason I’ve stopped using most social media most of the time. For various reasons, I can’t simply delete my accounts.
I work in education and there is an increase in bad behavior from both students and parents. This increase, the decline of civility, and dramatic polarization of our societies can be directly linked to social media.
Social media is designed to be addictive, and it optimizes individual feeds to increase the time online for users. The best way to extend time online is to promote moral trigger words, which link heavily to outrage. Of course, like the tobacco companies trying to preserve their market, social media companies deny that their products are causing any harm even when their own data contradicts them.
A significant difference with this book is the focus on Youtube. The other three mention Youtube, but this book goes into detail about the effects of Youtube, which are not different or better than other social media sites. I think people in general fail to recognize Youtube as a social media enterprise, but in many ways it is the most effective.
All three books have a bit of a different focus, and this one really centers on the algorithms. It’s clear that if we want to truly address the problems with social media, we have to tackle the use of algorithms to promote content.This could happen by simply making algorithmic amplification of content illegal, but I don’t see this happening. Another method, which could happen through Gonzalez v. Google, which is going to SCOTUS this year. This case could go many different directions, but one possible outcome is to eliminate the Section 230 protections for ISPs and online tools as it applies to algorithmically amplified content.
If you want to do yourself a favor, increase your peace of mind, and improve our society, spend as little time as possible on social media: use it with purpose. Don’t just scroll and don’t let it decide what you read and click on.
Other books on this topic:
– Privacy is Power by Veliz
– An Ugly Truth by Frenkel and Kang
– Anti-Social by Marantz
