Greg Morris

The Conscience of Silicon Valley

social media companies are basically giant behavior-modification systems that use algorithms to relentlessly increase “engagement,” largely by evoking bad feelings in the people who use them.

the algorithm takes a positive social movement, such as Black Lives Matter, and shows it to a bunch of people who are inclined to be enraged by it, introduces them to one another, and then continues to rile them up for profit,

It was difficult for me to not copy and paste the whole article into this post because it is so poignant. I realise I am on a bit of an anti-silicone valley kick at the moment but I want to know what they are doing to me, and nothing I read comes out well.

Social media is changing us for the worst, creating attention seeking, narcissistic ego driven monsters that can’t see what’s wrong. All the time while annexing their own little slice of the internet and using our content to power their money printing machines.

But how on earth do we get around the internet and join in every day life, in the same vein as my smartphone paradox, these companies seems impossible to avoid.

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