How the Internet Modified Human Interaction

Recently I’ve come to realize the dangers of the internet, and how drastically social media has changed people’s perception of the world around them. The Internet has been a tool used for sharing information since its inception and has been a revolutionary part of human history. When the internet first went public, people didn’t really know what it was going to be used for, it was a network managed by the government for the military and scientists to share important information and research. It was later opened to a relatively skeptical public who eventually latched onto the ability to share information instantly.

As computers became more advanced and cheaper as Moore’s law predicted, the internet began to change. For example, before advertising became algorithm based, it was simple, and advertisements didn’t cater to specific people in hyper-accurate ways. When advertising started to cater towards users, it was no longer advertising, and became something closer to behavior modification, just like Norbert Wiener feared. Social media intensely reflects this aspect of behavior modification, and people unaware of this danger can easily fall into an endless loop of lies and fake news.

Social media in general is a prime example of this, and people are starting to realize the dangers that this exploitable social system brings. Jaron Lanier, known as the father of Virtual Reality, stated that “We cannot have a society in which, if two people wish to communicate, the only way that can happen is if it’s financed by a third person who wishes to manipulate them.” This quote refers to the tailored advertisements and trends that sites like Google and Twitter use, and I’ve recently realized that essentially all social media has some aspect of behavior modification. So much so that I’ve challenged myself to stop participating on social media entirely, but that’s a story for another time.

 

In conclusion, the internet has brought us both incredible and terrifying possibilities, so it’s up to the people to regulate it, not the corporations. Social media is such a broad part of the internet that it seems impossible to let go of, but until the framework and management of this system changes, it’d be better to disconnect.