FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, TWITTER HURT KIDS BY MAKING SITES ADDICTIVE
Policymakers are grappling with an inconvenient truth that the public was “played” by the social media titans as they reckon with the revelations from Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower. Now what?
The reveal: Facebook, Google and Twitter designers use sophisticated neuroscience knowledge to add addiction and habit-forming features to social media platforms. Social media platforms use gamification tactics to manipulate users to stay engaged with the application longer. User connectivity is directly related to advertisement exposure and increased profits. The manipulated users earn small random prizes that reward their brains with dopamine hits — the effect of the dopamine fuels a compulsive habit-forming loop. MIT neuroscientist Anne Graybiel confirms that addictive behavior and habit formation physically change the brain’s structure. The structural brain changes make it almost impossible to resist the cue-impelling, habitforming behavior.
Social media companies specifically design their applications for the adolescent market. Adolescents are inherently more sensitive to rewards and risk-taking behavior.
As the teenage brain progresses to an adult brain, the decision-making brain structures are exceptionally responsive to environmental cues. The dopaminergic receptors reach their highest lifetime density during this developmental stage. The receptor density biases adolescent decision-making towards rewarding stimuli and renders them vulnerable to social media compulsions and addictions.
Recent neuroscience research confirms that the adolescent brain is more sensitive to cue-based learning than adults. For example, habits are formed when behavior is triggered repeatedly, and the repeated cue-response behavior becomes rigid and challenging to change. This result is significant in understanding why adolescents are exceptionally responsive to social media notification cues.
Addictive behavior formation during adolescence can have a long-term destructive effect on mental health. In a longitudinal study, Andrew Lapierre of the University of Arizona showed that smartphone usage was a direct risk factor for depression and loneliness in older adolescents. This study is crucial as it demonstrates that smartphone usage preceded the decline in mental health.
Ironically, these mental health repercussions have led many social media developers to disallow their children from using smartphones. In some cases, they go so far as to lock themselves out of the devices they were instrumental in developing.
Social media usage can be harmful for the adolescent population. The leaked Facebook documents indicate that officials were aware of the potential for harm to adolescents. Yet they pressed forward with technology that could specifically undermine the mental health of this vulnerable population. Here policymakers must use the weight of scientific evidence to warn and protect this age group.
Regulators need to have social media platforms move away from incentive-based features requiring users to check their smartphone application constantly.
In addition, the social media ecosystem relies on leveraging the teen’s data to promote highly personalized content. Incentivized by ad revenue and profits, such customized and compelling content has the effect of engaging and maximizing app usage and scroll time. Here regulators have an opportunity to demand that social media platforms adhere to data protection and transparency standards.
Moreover, our legislators can prohibit addictive digital tactics, toxic cyberbullying and the use of personal data associated with a minor.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is the federal law that bestows internet companies protection from liability for user-generated content disseminated on their platforms. Policymakers can demand that the content presented on their platform adhere to current rights laws covering libel, slander and defamation to help curb cyberbullying. Such regulations would incentivize the tech companies to take responsibility for the content on their apps.
Social media platforms are not simply passthrough conduits for third-party-generated content. They employ artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to curate and control information on their platform. Their involvement in data management disqualifies them from Section 230 protections. The Communications Decency Act was passed in 1996, long before we knew the consequences of social media on the adolescent mind. It is time to stand up for the children, update Section 230 exclusions, and protect the future of our nation.
Boyle,