^Tagsocial media

Amateur observatories, Interior views, vintage engraving.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
September 22, 2023

Categorized
Science

Tagged
censorship, COVID 19 censorship, Facebook, mind matters, Newsmax, Robert J. Marks, social media, Twitter, YouTube}

“Consensus” Doesn’t Always Mean Science

_{Real scientific discovery happens within a culture of free speech and open dialogue} _{News

September 22, 2023

1

Science}

Robert J. Marks, host of the Mind Matters podcast, recently put out an article at Newsmax discussing “scientific consensus,” and how that term has been used to bully dissenting scientific viewpoints and even establish political and social policy. Marks writes, Consensus was used as a reason to stifle debate during the COVID crisis. Facebook and YouTube saw opposition to the government narrative as disinformation. Posts against consensus were censored and users were banned. Pre-Musk Twitter had a policy concerning tweets about climate change: “Misleading advertisements on #Twitter that contradict the scientific consensus on #climatechange are prohibited, in line with its inappropriate content policy.” The word pairing “scientific consensus” is a destructive science-stifling oxymoron. -Robert J. Marks, Consensus Doesn’t Equal Science | Newsmax.com Read More ›

Young anxious woman lying in bed staring at smartphone screen at night, reading about depression symptoms in internet, phone addicted female can not stop scrolling news media before bedtime. Anxiety.

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 4, 2023

Categorized
Addiction

Tagged
addiction, Cal Newport, dopamine, Focus, social media, Work, YouTube}

Cal Newport: Overstimulation Is Ruining Your Life

_{Turns out the solution is simple: don't use things that overstimulate you.} _{Peter Biles

September 4, 2023

2

Addiction}

Cal Newport, author of So Good They Can’t Ignore You and Deep Work, now runs a YouTube channel/podcast where he offers advice about how to live and work deeply and effectively in the digital age. I’ve consistently found his thoughts interesting, informative, and inspiring. Last week, Newport released a fifteen-minute video on “overstimulation,” and talked at some length about the chemical dopamine, and how dopamine gives us the urge to do things we think will provide us with rewards. For instance, dopamine may compel us to take another inhalation of a cigarette, yank the lever of a gambling machine in Las Vegas, or even do something as apparently benign as refreshing your email tab. While there are many opinions and Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
August 26, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Ai avatar, ChatGPT, Influencers, Instagram, Kim Kardashian, National Review, social media}

National Review: Let AI Take Over Social Media Influencing

_{AI influencers are revealing how vapid social media really is} _{Peter Biles

August 26, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence}

We’ve recently commented on the AI influencer phenomenon, which seems to be taking social media by storm. With advanced AI imaging, more AI influencers are popping up, and they already look comparable to the likes of Kim Kardashian. The social media influencing world depends on primarily women selling their bodies for revenue. Instagram has tended heavily in this direction, and with the advent of OnlyFans, the temptation to flaunt oneself so provocatively is tangible for many. National Review writer Haley Strack thinks that the AI influencer horde will out-compete real-life influencers and eventually rule out the need for humans at all. She writes, Some criticize AI for giving young men another possibly perverse, sexual outlet online — but men who Read More ›

Video player app on phone's screen and wireless earphones on dark background

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 24, 2023

Categorized
Censorship

Tagged
Elon Musk, Free speech, Glenn Loury, Manhattan Institute, social media, Substack vs. Twitter, X, YouTube}

“Deeply Unsettling:” Popular YouTube Host Concerned Over Online Censorship

_{After one of his videos was removed from YouTube, economist and talk show host Glenn Loury had questions.} _{News

August 24, 2023

2

Censorship}

Glenn Loury is a professor at Brown University and a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. In addition, he hosts the Glenn Show on YouTube where he interviews several different thinkers, writers, etc. However, one of Loury’s videos, an interview he performed with Mark Goldblatt, author of I Feel, Therefore I Am: The Triumph of Woke Subjectivism, was taken down from YouTube on the charges of violating the platform’s community guidelines. Loury and Goldblatt discussed the sensitive issue of transgenderism, and the latter’s opinion on the matter was deemed controversial enough to count as hate speech. In this video, Loury and his production assistant, Nikita Petrov, talk about online censorship, free speech, Substack as an alternative to Twitter/X, and how Read More ›

Sad man getting dislikes and being rejected by audience for social addiction ad

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 13, 2023

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Andrew McDiarmid, Anxiety and depression, Cal Newport, emotions, mental health, New York Post, Reality, social media, Twitter}

The Benefits of Ditching Social Media

_{Tech writer Cal Newport explains why boredom is actually a good thing} _{News

August 13, 2023

2

Social Media}

Cal Newport ascended into the limelight upon his viral Ted Talk in which he called people to ditch social media. In this video from last year, Newport rehashes some of the main benefits of not having social media. Boredom is on the list, interestingly; Newport notes that most people no longer have moments of boredom, and as a consequence, don’t have any space in their lives to reflect, think, and work through their emotions. Andrew McDiarmid, a contributor at Mind Matters, has written on this in the past. He notes, Mind wandering, or stream of consciousness thought, gives us several mental gains, including the ability to consider obstacles to future goals, generate novel, creative thoughts, and place our experiences in meaningful Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
August 4, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, ChatGPT, Futurism, Influencers, Instagram, internet, social media, Victor Tangermann}

AI Influencers Are Starting to Explode

_{Seeing how artificial and impersonal the influencer lifestyle already is, maybe it was inevitable.} _{Peter Biles

August 4, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence}

AI avatars are starting to flood the social media “influencing” sphere. Seeing how artificial and impersonal the influencer lifestyle already is, maybe it was inevitable. The “Instagram influencer” is a relatively new phenom: an attractive, usually young, person flaunts certain brands on social media for revenue. The phrase “digital creator” is a common tag on bios, and countless young women have made a living off of selling their looks on Instagram. So how might AI play into all this? Well, there are now hundreds of AI internet personalities flooding social media. And they look pretty convincing. Victor Tangermann reports, Thanks to the advent of AI-powered image generators like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, some are now fabricating entire feeds of internet Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 2, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, C.S. Lewis, Christianity, god, Jesus Revolution, Mere Christianity (book), Pirate's Cove, Revival, Robert J. Marks, social media, TikTok}

Running from TikTok to Baptism and Truth

_{AI-powered social media is hurting kids, but look at the simultaneous revival happening, writes Robert J. Marks} _{News

August 2, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence}

“Digital fentanyl.” That’s the evocative term U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc. used to describe TikTok. In Robert J. Marks’ new Newsmax article, he decries the tragic effects of social media on teens. The data is in: social media makes kids depressed. Marks writes, Media-drenched teenage boys without girlfriends feel like social freaks. One in three teenage girls who use social have body image issues.Young adults who use social media are three times as likely to suffer from depression. Depression can lead to suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, female suicides aged 15-24 increased by 87 percent over the past 20 years and male suicides increased by 30 percent. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry says suicide is now the second leading Read More ›

bright iridescent thread floss for embroidery and needlework

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
July 27, 2023

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Big Tech, censorship, Elon Musk, iOS, Mark Zuckerberg, social media, Threads app, Twitter}

Is the “Threads” App a Bust?

_{The app originally attracted around 100 million users but has tapered off dramatically.} _{News

July 27, 2023

2

Social Media}

Within the first week of its existence, “Threads,” the new Twitter-like app from the tech company Meta, saw a colossal decline in usage. The app originally attracted around 100 million users but has tapered off dramatically. Jody Cerrano reports, Zuckerberg’s statements about returning users coincide with estimates from third-party traffic analysts that reported the big dip in Threads users last week. At that time, Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm, said that Threads’ daily active users on iOS and Android were down by 20%. The company added that traffic was not the only thing affected. Time spent on the app per user also fell, according to Sensor Tower, by 50% — from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. On Monday, the analyst Similarweb reported an Read More ›

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
July 20, 2023

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Charlie Crockett, children, Human Trafficking, Mobile phone, Online, Robert J. Marks, social media, Unbound Now}

The Sound of Freedom: Social Media and Human Trafficking

_{Robert J. Marks

July 20, 2023

1}

Robert J. Marks and Charlie Crockett continue their conversation on the sad reality of human trafficking. In this episode, they focus particularly on how social media has become a place where predators will search and highlight children’s vulnerabilities — which so many young people share online. Marks and Crockett encourage parents to develop relationships of trust with their children and Read More ›

Abstract creative illustration from 3D rendering of female bust figure with flat anonymous face isolated on gradient background in vaporwave style colors.

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
July 2, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Black Mirror (TV Show), Facial Recognition, Instagram, metaverse, Nautilus, social media, TikTok, Virtual Reality}

Blurring the Lines Between Fantasy and Reality

_{A "Black Mirror" episode illustrates the danger of seeing the world through an AI filter} _{Peter Biles

July 2, 2023

3

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

The dystopian Netflix show Black Mirror featured an episode a few years ago about soldiers tasked with wiping out an apparently mutant adversary. In reality, the soldiers are seeing the world through an AI filter that is casting ordinary human beings as despicable monsters. The AI lessens their hesitations to kill the enemy. An article at Nautilus cited a research group that’s asking how much of that horrifying story could potentially unfold in real time, or is already happening to a certain extent in today’s culture. Social media apps like Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram already use face altering techniques in their apps, allowing users to curate idealized images of themselves. But what happens when, as in the Black Mirror episode, Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid
Date
June 23, 2023

Categorized
Environment

Tagged
AI, Andrew McDiarmid, ChatGPT, Inventions, John Muir, Machinery, Nature, social media, Technology, Yosemite}

John Muir and the Pleasures of Nature

_{The inventor-turned-naturalist can teach us the benefits of loving the natural world} _{Andrew McDiarmid

June 23, 2023

8

Environment}

April 21 is John Muir’s birthday. Muir is typically remembered as one of America’s foremost naturalists, father of our national parks and a tireless defender of the wilderness. But he might very well have been none of those things. As a young man, Muir was gifted at building machines, and he was set to pursue a career in technology until everything went dark. Literally. Revisiting this little-known chapter of Muir’s life can inspire us to better navigate our own relationship to technology and give us a fresh reason to celebrate his work. In 1849, Muir left his homeland of Scotland and moved with his family to the backwoods of Wisconsin. Farm work, chores, and family Bible studies kept him busy Read More ›

Social Network Online Sharing Connection Concept.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 15, 2023

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Facebook, Instagram, Jacques Ellul, Mimetic Desire, Social comparison, social media, Twitter}

Social Media’s Mimetic Desire Complex

_{The reason it makes us so miserable} _{News

June 15, 2023

2

Social Media}

Frank is friends with Bob. Both Frank and Bob know Sue. Frank likes Sue. Therefore, Bob likes Sue. Conflict ensues. Frank and Bob are no longer friends. Take this situation and amplify it by a million (whatever that metric looks like) and you’ve got something like the social media world we inhabit today. This quick video, posted below, discusses “mimetic desire,” or what happens when certain ideals or images are pursued, not because they’re intrinsically good, but because it’s the current zeitgeist to want them. The problem with mimetic desire is that it eclipses legitimate desires and wants, or confuses us about what we really need in order to be happy. Watch the video for a better summary of this Read More ›

Mockup of social media app user interface in dark screen mode

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 8, 2023

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
AI, Big Tech, Child sex abuse, Child sexual abuse (online), Instagram, Meta, sex trafficking, social media, Stanford University, Twitter, Wall Street Journal}

The Dark Side of Instagram

_{An investigative report shows that Instagram algorithm promotes pedophilia networks} _{News

June 8, 2023

3

Social Media}

It’s an unfortunate fact that sex trafficking and pedophilia rings have benefitted from the invention of the internet. Even worse, Meta‘s Instagram is amplifying the problem – not because Meta wants to, of course, but because the algorithm promotes the activity. The Wall Street Journal did an investigative report in partnership with a team from Stanford University on Instagram’s promotion of pedophilia rings, with Jeff Horwitz and Katherine Blunt writing, Pedophiles have long used the internet, but unlike the forums and file-transfer services that cater to people who have interest in illicit content, Instagram doesn’t merely host these activities. Its algorithms promote them. Instagram connects pedophiles and guides them to content sellers via recommendation systems that excel at linking those Read More ›

Closed up image of a Female using TikTok application on a smartphone in home. 5 September, 2022. ChiangMai, Thailand.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 7, 2023

Categorized
Social Media, Surveillance

Tagged
addiction, ByteDance, China, Cognition, Congress, Forbes, government, mental health, National Security, social media, TikTok}

TikTok is Storing Data in China, Contrary to Former Claims

_{TikTok CEO said user data isn't stored in China. Turns out it is.} _{News

June 7, 2023

2

Social Media, Surveillance}

Many online creators and entrepreneurs give sensitive data to TikTok, the China-owned social media app, so they can do business on the platform. That includes social security numbers. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told Congress earlier this year that users’ data was stored outside of China in places such as Virginia and Singapore. Apparently, however, that is an inaccurate claim. According to a report from Forbes, TikTok has indeed been storing sensitive data on Chinese servers, where employees there can access it. Alexandra S. Levine reports, A trove of records obtained by Forbes from multiple sources across different parts of the company reveals that highly sensitive financial and personal information about those prized users and third parties has been stored in China. Read More ›

VR virtual reality headset goggles worn by man 3D illustration with colorful abstract art showing creativity, fun, metaverse and more, with a white background.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 7, 2023

Categorized
Technology

Tagged
AI, apple, Apps, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Big Tech, CEO, Meta, metaverse, Productivity, social media, Tim Cook, Virtual Reality}

Apple’s Vision Pro Promises “Augmented Reality”

_{The goal? To seamlessly blend digital and physical space} _{News

June 7, 2023

3

Technology}

We’ve written here several times on Meta‘s struggling metaverse project; Zuckerberg‘s darling endeavor hasn’t gotten the traction he hoped for, with teetering investor involvement and an even more fragile consumer interest. But that didn’t stop Apple from chasing their own augmented reality project. The tech giant recently announced the Vision Pro, a headset that allows users to see apps and messages within their physical space. The product is a major development, and the main goal, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, is to dissolve the boundaries between our physical and digital dimensions. Per a report from ABC News, “Vision Pro is a new kind of computer that augments reality by seamlessly blending the real world with the digital world,” Apple Read More ›

man walking in the night toward the light

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
May 27, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, AI companion, Artificial Intelligence, chatbots, Futurism, Movies and TV, Operating System, sex robots, Snapchat, social media}

Here Come the AI Companions

_{The Internet ushered in a wave of virtual living and connectivity. Is this the next inevitable step?} _{Peter Biles

May 27, 2023

3

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

The popular social media influencer Caryn Marjorie recently launched “CarynAI,” an artificially intelligent companion that her millions of followers can interact with every day. Marjorie told the Washington Post that she doesn’t have the bandwidth to respond to all the requests she gets from her predominantly male fanbase, however much she wishes to. She furthermore wants to cure them all of their loneliness. She’s on track to make 5 million dollars a month from CarynAI. The bot makes it possible for fans to have a “relationship” with a simulated version of Caryn. Conversations are designed to “wind down” after an hour, but there’s no time limit. One of Caryn’s reps said users are spending hours interacting with CarynAI. The project Read More ›

emotional glitchy tetris pattern pixelated Photoluminescence SciFi Otherworldly Realistic

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 26, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Technology

Tagged
Acton Institute, AI, Apple TV, capitalism, Communism, Digital Addiction, film, Mind Matters podcast, Movies and TV, Robert J. Marks, social media, Tetris}

Before the iPhone, There Was Tetris

_{What was the precursor for the widespread tech addiction we see today, particularly in young people?} _{News

May 26, 2023

2

Arts & Culture, Technology}

What was the precursor for the widespread tech addiction we see today, particularly in young people? Many say it was the iPhone. Peter Tonguette, however, thinks that the game Tetris started the screentime avalanche. Tonguette reviewed the new Apple TV+ film Tetris, which covers the story of the classic game’s development, acquisition, and subsequent popularity in the early nineties. He writes, One might assume this changeover coincided with the rise of smartphones and social media, but a new movie shows that it happened as early as the summer vacation of 1989. During that fateful interregnum between school years, kids were introduced to something that prefigured the electronic devices of the 21st century: a battery-powered, 8-bit handheld videogame device whose two Read More ›

Finger touching phone with social media concept and dark background

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 24, 2023

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Big Tech, Instagram, Jonathan Haidt, mental health, social media, Surgeon General, Technology, Teen mental health, Vivek Murthy, youth}

Social Media is Hurting Kids. Does Big Tech Care?

_{Body image issues, low self-esteem, and social comparison are all typical outcomes of excessive social media use among teens and children} _{News

May 24, 2023

2

Social Media}

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a warning in a briefing this week on the negative impact of social media on kids, particularly teenage girls. Murthy called tech companies to provide “safeguards” to protect children who are at a critical stage in brain development. Early exposure to social media, numerous studies show, are correlated with anxiety and depression in young people. Murthy said, “We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis – one that we must urgently address.” Social media could harm youth mental health, U.S. Surgeon General warns | Reuters Problems like body image issues, low self-esteem, and social comparison are all Read More ›