I found it amusing how companies such as Facebook had been able to manipulate people to use technology less, yet in a way that was benefiting them even more than it had before. When they learn what we take interest in and keep track of websites we visit, these companies are then able pinpoint what they should advertise to who and further gain more money and control from us."We should be demanding that society as a whole gets to decide how we live with technology - rather than the small group of people who have captured society's wealth". This quote from "Why Silicon Valley can't save itself" refers to companies who have originated from Silicon Valley such as Google, Apple, etc to be the ones who are truly in control of how we live with technology. Do you believe that to some extent, it's possible that these organizations have been able to control us and our relationship with technology through the use of their products? How often have you found in your social medias advertisements for things you like? Does feed based off of things you enjoy cause you to use the app longer?
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Are we truly in control of our relationship with technology?
"Why Silicon Valley can't fix itself" was the assigned Long Read which corresponded with my counselor Mrs. Young. In the beginning of the read it has discussed how there was rising in concerns to how technology has been negatively impacting society and those who use the products that come from the creators in Silicon Valley such as Google, Apple, Facebook, etc. At first, when these concerns began to rise on how addicting and time consuming the products from Silicon Valley combined with social media were, the companies of Silicon Valley claimed that these people making those concerns were ignorant of the benefits that come with technology. After years of denying these accusations, a suspicious turn in beliefs had occurred in which the companies had suddenly agreed that there were negative effects technology had on those who used it. To convince the people of their new beliefs and agreements, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, made the solution of converting the total time spent on Facebook into more meaningful time spent. To do so, Facebook had been programmed in such a way that it "prioritized “meaningful” interactions with “friends” rather than consuming “public content” like video and news. This would ensure that “Facebook isn’t just fun, but also good for people’s well-being”' and focused on the individual person. By focusing on the individual, it was able to track down how often they sent messages to people and whose post they liked, assuming that the individual was closer to those they messaged more rather than the people's who post they liked. This effectively allowed for Facebook to then become a data rich platform that knew what you liked and what your friends possibly liked, assuming closer friends shared similar interest.
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To answer your question, I believe that organizations such as Apple, Google, and Facebook are able to and have been able to control us and our relationship with technology. Apple produces new products every year, often with new and advanced features which causes people to want them. Therefore, this causes people to rely on the new products and have an addiction to technology. Also, these new products offer new things making you, sometimes, stay on it for a longer time. Another example from Apple products can be demonstrated by the screen time that is notified to the user every week. This screen time can sometimes be concerning due to the amount of time spent on the device. This then leads to spending less time on technology because of this feature that alarms you. This proves how Apple can control you in some ways, due to what it notifies you about. Additionally, another organization such as Tik Tok, is yet another example that shows how these organizations are able to control us. This app is often thought of as “addicting” because of the content shown. It also, like you mentioned from Facebook, shows you content that is related to you or of your interest. This, I would say, causes a negative effect due to controlling you into scrolling and seeing more content you may relate to. Overall, I believe organizations have certain features that can interest certain people and control those, not all, because of their preferences.
ReplyDeleteI believe that these organizations have managed to control us and our relationship with technology through the use of their products. For example, social media companies such as Facebook and Instagram have discovered that by taking advantage of a person's interests, they are able to increase engagement on social media. On Instagram, the explore page is unique to each user, as it represents a user's interests. I definitely think that feed based off of things you enjoy causes you to use the app longer. If my feed consisted of random posts, I would probably deem them irrelevant. Consequently, I wouldn't spend as much time on social media since I wouldn't be interested. Whereas when social media companies target each user by accommodating their feed to their interests, it is more likely that users will spend hours on social media without knowing how much time has passed by since they are enjoying it.This encourages people to remain focused on technology for a long period of time even without intending to. Thus, some organizations assert control over users and how much time they spend on their product by using their own interests or preferences.
ReplyDeletePlatforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter do track people's activities in order increase engagement across the platforms. Feed and advertisements are tailored to the interests of a specific person; naturally, this would encourage engagement with the apps for longer periods of time. I myself have fallen into the habit of spending more time on social media than I intend to because the apps advertise volumes of content that somehow match my interests. This also takes away from the time I could be engaging in more productive activities.
ReplyDeleteI do think that advertising based off of people's interests can be convenient to the person in a sense, but at the end of the day, these companies are not adopting these algorithms for people's convenience, but instead with their own interests in mind. Companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook likely share this joint effort in order to achieve the best profits possible. A basic awareness of the motives of these companies will surely not eliminate all the time people waste on their platforms, but it will certainly go a long way in helping to remove society's fixation on social media.