S20 RESET Meeting 2: Social Media
Wednesday, January 22, 2:00 PM in the 2nd-floor Folsom Library Conference Room
Topics:
Last meeting:
- Defined what we mean by technology and ethics.
- Acknowledged how hard it is to define technology and ethics.
- Acknowledged how many different lenses we can look at a social issue involving technology: through class, race, gender, power, etc.
- How tech companies become more entrenched into the current social, political, and economic systems and begin to reflect them and their power imbalances.
- How tech companies profit from fear.
- Tech industry's relationship with the military.
- We are all part of THE SYSTEM.
- Ways RESET can grow and things we can do.
- In the end, we decided to divide the efforts of the group into two:
- 1. Large public accessible conversations on social issues in technology. Similar to today's meeting but hopefully more accessible. We did a bad job at seating those who talk a lot away from those who talk a little and it created an imbalance. We want everyone to feel comfortable participating.
- 2. A smaller concerted activist effort for people who want to be more involved. This will involve more intense conversations, information campaigns, rallies, and protests.
This meeting:
- Technology and social media's effect on our mental health and social norms.
- Are we more isolated or connected (or both) because of technology?
- Heavy users of social media report feeling more lonely, anxious, and depressed. Why is this? Who’s responsible: the user or the platform?
- Technology usually minimizes the amount of face-to-face (or even voice-to-voice) interaction (e.g., self-checkouts, service apps). Is this making us afraid of each other? Is this making it harder to learn social norms and etiquette? (e.g., would a child who grew up with Siri and Alexa and never had to be polite to these AIs be polite to people to a food server?)
- Technology’s effect on our attention span. (e.g. The first Lincoln-Douglas debate lasted 7 hours. Can we imagine anyone paying attention to two people talking for 7 hours? Most people don’t watch the presidential debates that last 2 hours.)
- Conversely, technology allows us to communicate worldwide, have better access to mental health resources, and access near-infinite amounts of art and literature. How do we utilize this without succumbing to the problems highlighted above?
Articles for discussion
- Alexa, Are You Safe For My Kids?
- A New, More Rigorous Study Confirms: The More You Use Facebook, the Worse You Feel
- Digital Minimalism