Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategorySocial Media

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Cell phone addiction concept. Many teens hold smart device. Social media like obsession. Online communication problem. People watch mobile gadget screen. Art illustration. Cyberspace internet network.

How to Ruin a Generation: Give Everyone Smartphones

What is all of this digital content doing to the souls of kids? To everyone?

For those familiar with the novel Brave New World, this distracted, dopamine-addled brand of a society was all but predicted almost a century ago.

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Instagram Likes

New Allegations Claim Meta Dismissed Risks to Children

New complaints, same story: Meta cares more about business growth than protecting kids

This new litany of complaints feels like it will be a lot tougher for the tech behemoth to successfully battle.

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girl riding a bike and looks at her smartphone, danger

Glued to Our Phones. Our Troubling Addiction to Social Media

It's disconcerting to see people out for a nature walk — completely absorbed in the traffic on their phones

Social media addictions clearly cause harm among minors but the tech giants who profit by them won’t regulate themselves in any meaningful way.

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play button on black background

YouTube Admits to Broad Censorship Program, Vows Reform

Amid the uproar over comic Jimmy Kimmel’s brief Cancellation over comments about the Charlie Kirk slaying, this much bigger story slid by unnoticed

Google says it was largely at the government’s behest. The Biden administration apparently believed in censorship far more than many Americans realized.

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Chicago Downtown at Night

Wanted: Comedian Who is Actually Funny

First Colbert, now Kimmel.

Shows like Kimmel’s and Colbert’s have long abandoned the usual attempts at humor, which has historically included taking jabs at both sides of the aisle.

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The Press Conference Interview

Decode or Be Deceived: Read What Authorities Say Carefully

Increasingly we must examineclaims from experts — human or AI —carefully, instead of adopting their clever sound bites

Research presented at a 2025 Microsoft Research meet finds that people tend to think less carefully and critically when they rely on GenAI and online sources.

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3d rendering of framed lighten X alphabet shape on grunge tiles floor surrounded by smoke

Where X Went Wrong in Dealing with Links to Independent Media

Elon Musk bought Twitter, changed it to X, and made it a nightmare for writers trying to share their work

As trust in legacy journalism erodes, more time and energy will get funneled into independent media and X isn’t playing fair here.

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Custom library

Thanks to Our Screens, We’re Heading For a Post-Literate Culture?

Whatever one’s opinions regarding solutions for declining literacy rates, people can always start to brew change in their own lives and communities

Ted Gioia writes, books “offer an escape from the degraded digital domains, where duplicity is now dictated by the largest platforms with the richest owners.”

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Person using laptop with code and glowing ai chatbot analyzing social media interactions

Internal Meta Document Reveals Shockingly Permissive Standards

Advocates call for more safety as AI bots flood the scene

According to a report from Reuters, Meta, parent company of Facebook, has allowed its chatbot to flirt and have “sensual” conversations with children. Meta AI is now accessible on various Meta platforms, and age limits are essentially suggestions, not requirements. Anyone can lie about their age and create an account. Jeff Horwitz writes, These and other findings emerge from a Reuters review of the Meta document, which discusses the standards that guide its generative AI assistant, Meta AI, and chatbots available on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, the company’s social-media platforms. Meta confirmed the document’s authenticity, but said that after receiving questions earlier this month from Reuters, the company removed portions which stated it is permissible for chatbots to flirt and engage Read More ›

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Professional microphone in radio station studio on air

Why Public Funding Cuts the Heart out of Media

To be proper critics of government, media like NPR must be financially independent. Otherwise, they have no place to stand that gives them a clear view

As a veteran journalist puts it, once you build a co-dependence like that, you lose public trust. People are just not going to believe you.

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Two children, sitting in a dark, playing with gadgets

Adult Content Site Leaves France Due to Age Verification Law

Will other countries follow suit?

People are likely to encounter online pornography even if they don’t actively seek it out. That’s how pervasively adult content inundates the internet.

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Creative representation of social media engagement. A red

AI Blackmail & Clickbait:  Give Us Dirty Laundry

Despite all the hype about AI threatening blackmail, here’s what really happened…

Chatbots have been trained on such stories. People forget it’s just a machine and panic because they think of it as a person who really thinks things.

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Austin's downtown landscape with google building

What Are My Recommendations for Reining in/Reforming Google?

Part 10: Here’s one thing: If Google claims Section 230 and DMCA protections but actively moderates or curates content, it is a publisher, not a neutral platform

The alternative to the First Amendment is a narratocracy in which a society’s commanding institutions determine what stories are allowed and disallowed.

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Portrait, running and group on a track, exercise and workout goal with motivation, happiness and race. Face, man or women outdoor, run or race for training, fitness and health with wellness and smile

No Mark Zuckerberg, AI ‘Friends’ Are Not Good for Mental Health

Zuckerberg's proposed AI friends will not alleviate the epidemic of loneliness and depression and I can tell you a few reasons why

His solution?: More technology, not less. Meta has made billions of dollars monetizing our attention. Why not monetize our loneliness, too?

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Composite image of blue data

Pulling the Strands Together to Chart Life After Google

In Part 9, we begin by looking at how the manipulation directly affects you when you search for information

After the 2016 election, Google leadership decided to prevent voters it saw as populist and low-information from deciding future presidential elections.

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Hand writing the text: Search

What Public Policies Can Help Us Achieve a Less Biased Internet?

Part 8: Robert Epstein proposes a number of changes worth considering

Robert Epstein is the former editor of Psychology Today who, as I discussed yesterday, has studied the ways in which Google can manipulate public opinion.

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Global Communications

How Google Can Control and Manipulate Public Opinion

In Part 7, Robert Epstein, former editor of Psychology Today, offers some disturbing information on how search engines can be manipulated for political purposes

Epstein, working through web projects, also provides a sobering assessment of how much Google monitors what average Internet users are doing online.

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Illuminated cityscape on digital network, futuristic scene

The Last Humanist: What the Digital Age Can’t Replace

My review of Superbloom by Nicholas Carr, perhaps the last critic standing, with thoughts on some of his earlier books

Unlike the surveillance capitalism crowd, Carr doesn’t just rail against Big Tech’s designs; he interrogates our willing participation.

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Assorted natural herbal and vitamin supplements carefully placed on vibrant green leaves, surrounded by wildflowers, embodying a holistic approach to health and wellness.

How Google Search Rank Disrupted the Alternative Health Industry

Part 6: Google’s bias is as real as ever, but the firm has deflected it to an impersonal policy that gives an air of objectivity

Having a Wikipedia entry gets you instant credibility even though so much of Wikipedia is substandard and politically biased.

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American cash money and yellow paper note with text Google with question mark

Google’s Power Over Online Business: Monopolistic and Extravagant

Part 5: To help people understand Google’s power over online businesses, I ask. What if the road on which the local Walmart is located suddenly became a dirt trail?

It’s as though Google is doing everything in its power to throttle organic traffic, driving that traffic to their sponsored ads, increasing its bottom line.

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