While you might not have heard much about it, back around 2017 a former Facebook executive came forth speaking about social media and how we allow it to control us as a whole. Sure, it does connect us, but it is ‘ripping apart’ society.
Chamath Palihapitiya was a Facebook vice president for user growth at one point and while he no longer is, he feels guilt for having been so engrained in the world of social media and helped progress it in the ways he did. When speaking at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, he broke down how the world works, how social media works, and so much more. While hearing someone who worked so closely with this kind of thing speak in such a manner is quite confusing, it is also quite revealing.
Palihapitiya said things like the following during this talk:
“I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works,”
“If you feed the beast, that beast will destroy you. It’s time to take a hard break from some of these tools.”
“No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth,”
“I just don’t use these tools anymore, I haven’t for years. It’s created with a huge tension with my friends, it’s created a huge tension in my social circles,”
“If you look at my Facebook feed, I probably posted two times in the last seven years.”
Palihapitiya doesn’t allow his kids to use social media for these reasons and honestly, lots of others are thinking in the way he is and doing the same. Yes, social media can do a lot of good, but it can also do a lot of bad. He even goes on to say this is a global problem overall and that it’s ‘eroding’ the core foundation of how ‘people behave by and between each other.’ His words truly do ring quite deeply in many of us.
While we do not always see it, Palihapitiya also says we are being programmed. We all are, and that we need to now take the time to decide if that’s what we’re willing to put up with. Do we want to let this kind of thing control us, or do we want to take our lives back in this sense?
To hear him speak for yourself, take a look below. While the video is about an hour-long, it’swell worth the watch. This man is full of deep thoughts and very interesting to hear out. What do you think about social media? I for one kind of agree with Chamath in this sense.