The Counter to Criticism of Technology’s Constant Feedback Loop
Netflix’s The Social Dilemma, directed by Jeff Orlowski, draws critical attention to the increasing complications proposed by technology with particular regards to “social media”. It brings to light to the constant feedback loop and the subsequent addiction provided by social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn, etc. While these are partially correct assertions, the film’s core message ultimately vilifies technology without ever considering that positive aspects that technology has to offer possibly outweigh the negatives and are only inherently designed off of basic human behavior.
The base argument of The Social Dilemma, presented by defectors of tech giants such as Facebook and Google, is a negative one, and rightfully so. Our society has become so reliant on technology that it’s impossible to go a day without looking at screen. However, even before social media was a prominent factor in society, there have been examples of addiction when it came to technology.
Steam is a computer software platform with a marketplace, primarily geared towards gaming, which is owned by Valve Corporation based in Bellevue, Washington, just outside of Seattle. Steam, in 2018, itself has 90 million monthly users, and 47 million. One of their most popular games, and is considered a staple in gaming history, is Counter Strike. It’s a basic First Person Shooter (FPS), but what set itself apart from other FPS’s was its marketplace hosted on Steam which offered opportunities to win highly sought after weapon skins outside of normal gameplay. To clarify, these skins are only aesthetic and have no impact on Counter Strike gameplay. In the Steam CS marketplace, players could buy crates (about 1 USD or less) which contained the skins. Then the player would purchase keys (about 2.50 USD) to open the crates. It’s one key per crate so to open a crate would cost around 3.50 USD. All this money goes directly to Valve. So the player opens a crate and they have a chance at winning a skin worth hundreds / thousands or nothing at all. Does this sound like a similar industry?
Beyond this, players can also sell their skins on the Steam Marketplace. All the buyer has to do is put real money into their “Steam Wallet” to Steam to buy said skin, of which Valve takes 30%. Rare skins can sell for over 300 USD, but very rare skins can sell over 3000 USD, and some have sold for over 20,000 USD and the highest sold was 61,000 USD.
If you haven’t figure it out by now, it’s text book gambling as it stimulates that risk-reward drive in the human-mind. Furthermore, these skins have become so valuable there is an industry of gambling websites built around gambling your current Counter Strike skins to possibly win more valuable skins. On July 13, 2016 Valve banned use of gambling websites using their API to populate their sites but, they still persist. On top of that, gambling websites do exist where players, even those in states that ban gambling, can gamble money.
Looking at what the Valve corporation has done, it’s nothing different from other similar and concurrent industries, yet they did make a change. The gambling industry worldwide is worth 565 Billion USD and expected to grow at an annual rate of 5.9% and those companies won’t make a change anytime soon. Hence, these behavioral manipulations didn’t start with Valve and their technology. It only became another medium for which established companies to sell their services and products.
While I draw a lot of attention to the negatives of Valve, they have made some efforts to limit the manipulation and eventual addiction their programs perpetuate. When compared to other industries that have been around much longer and prey on the same human behavior, they are far ahead of the curve.
There are substance addictions such as drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes but, Behavioral / Process Addiction flies under the radar, especially, when it comes to technology. Social media apps are highly accessible, and The Social Dilemma brings that to light. However, technology isn’t going away and it shouldn’t. Similar to the printing press, technology has propelled humankind into a new age of information, data, and endless possibilities. In fact, exposing children to computers and technology can prove incredibly beneficial for their critical thinking / problem solving skills as they progress through school. 77% of jobs in 2020 require some form of computer skills.
Some sort of Behavioral / Process addiction is much more common in the US than one would think. if it’s a negative process and not moderated, can have very similar consequences of substance addictions. What needs to happen is for the populace to educate themselves, and to teach children how to healthily use technology. Technology is never going away, and it shouldn’t. But regulation and understanding is key. Listed below are some helpful reads:
https://www.apa.org/topics/healthy-technology-use
Many companies have already taken steps to employ features that help monitor technology usage. Most devices come with parental controls, sleep & meditation applications, and provide analytics on how often a user may user their devices to help the user manage their devices. Even simply turning off certain types of notifications can help.
Technology is a product of humans, and built by humans to appeal to our basic human instincts. In a way, the tactics employed by these companies help us better understand ourselves as human beings and our tendencies when it comes to our behavior. Technology shouldn’t be regarded as evil, and instead celebrated and practiced in schools, as well as ensuring we practice healthy methods to moderate our behavior.
