"Addressing those who are critical of using the technology in this way, Zuckerberg said, "If you think that something someone is doing is bad, and they think it's really valuable, most of the time, in my experience, they're right and you're wrong, and you just haven't come up with a framework yet for understanding why the thing that [they're] doing is valuable and helpful in their life.""
"Zuckerberg, and other technosolutionists pushing for AI to take over what have long been human tasks, may genuinely think they're doing something beneficial by introducing technology that will help people optimize their performance and comfort socially. The irony is that Zuckerberg is engineering a temporary "solution" to a problem that his company has, generally, benefitted from, if not directly contributed to. And to defend this "solution," he's suggesting an over-simplified framework for understanding its value."
"Social media-the realm in which Zuckerberg made his fortune as the founder of Facebook and now Meta-often contributes to feelings of isolation, loneliness, and depression. A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study found that college students who limited their social media use to 10 minutes per day showed significant reductions in loneliness and depression over three weeks compared to a control group. Another comprehensive 2022 study reviewed adolescents' use of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic."
Proponents argue that many people seek greater connectivity and that AI could help navigate difficult romantic and professional conversations. Advocates claim critics often lack a framework to see why such technology may be valuable in users' lives. Critics warn that technological fixes risk oversimplifying complex social problems and may temporarily mask issues that social media helped create. Research links higher social media use and media addiction with greater loneliness and depression; one study found limiting use to ten minutes daily reduced loneliness and depression among college students, and a 2022 review associated increased adolescent social media use with greater ill-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read at Substack
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