In 2009, Shannon Vallor proposed that social networking technologies are altering the virtues of its users through motivational and structural means. Rather than through the users’ perceptions, feelings, and beliefs, virtues are developed through behaviors that become habits, and through those habits our virtues are shaped and reshaped. Because social networking technology has completely transformed the ways we communicate, Shannon argues it has also altered our virtues. In light of this, she proposes new virtues for users of social networking.
Over a decade later, we’ve seen that creators of social media technology need a virtue check just as much if not more than the average user. Where Shannon suggests virtues for users of social networking technology, we should look to the industry leaders of social networking technology and question what their virtues are. Shannon zeroes in on three virtues for users in particular: patience, honesty, and empathy. Here, we’ll try to apply one of them, honesty, to the creators of this technology.
The problem is that there is no motivation for companies to adopt the Shannon's virtue of honesty. Facebook's many scandals are evidence that they won't make an effort towards honesty until prompted. From invasions of privacy to inciting genocide, we've seen that one company's dishonesty can have extensive, devastating consequences in the offline world. Now that there's the threat of structural enforcement, laws and policies to regulate the way Facebook runs, the company is attempting honesty, or at least the appearance of it.
With the advent of fake news, increasingly sophisticated technologies like deepfakes that allow for visual deception, and the ease with which anyone can share any of it with a large audience, there is an argument to be made that we’re living in a post-truth era, where people are more inclined to believe something that fits into their pre-existing framework of what is true rather than to base their beliefs on facts. The best example of what post-truth looks is Eli Saslow’s article on a Facebook page that began as a parody but has now become a beacon of misinformation. The post-truth age makes is difficult to define what honesty means for a company like Facebook.
The blog you wrote makes an interesting point and I like how you tied the reading into your blog. Moving forward, I feel like it would help your blog if you added visuals to it that help guide the reader. Visuals and white space can help the reader be more engaged with the reading as opposed to the reader losing interest.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your perspective of how many social media sites lack a will to govern their platform. Your post also makes me wonder if this plays into some of Grodzinsky's writings into ethics with Artificial Agents, as the algorithms on social media often look to maximize the views of content with no regard to the consequences of that which lies within. I would like to have seen some reference to either of the other two virtues, especially as arguments could also be made that there is a lack of empathy or patience that stems from Facebook's lack of honesty.
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