You Are The Product

6 commitments every content creator should make to save human civilization

The new Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” is the scariest movie that I’ve ever seen. It’s not horror movie scary. It’s end of the world scary.

I watched “The Social Dilemma” the first time alone, but I watched it the second time with my 10 and 13-year-old, the former a boy, whose media of choice is Youtube, and the later, a girl, who loves Tiktok. They are good and brilliant little people; if we don’t destroy the world by the time they take over, we’ll all be okay.

As we watched, we discussed “sticky content” and “the algorithm,” and I kept my dirty secret.

I am a writer on a social media platform. It’s a part of how I make my living. I am a content creator. If I’m any good, then an AI algorithm uses my words to glue my readers to their screens.

I’m a part of the problem. Not the solution.

You will tell me that Medium is different because it’s ad free, and it is advertisers’ greed that drives the runaway train depicted in “The Social Dilemma.” But, I’m not so sure. The film demonstrates that social media is the lever used to heave the boulder of civilization over the metaphoric cliff. It’s a megaphone, not a hammer, and as such, it’s only part of the problem.

Free feed-based Social platforms are driven by learning algorithms so complex they can only be categorized as AI (artificial intelligence). One need look no further than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before the US Congress in 2018 which touched on alleged…

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