Social Media with Moderation

Reading Time: 3 minutes
When I look at Facebook, BlueSky and Threads I see a lot of content that should never be. I see sentences and phrasing that provoke hostility, and I see article headlines and more that provoke polarisation. In essence I think that social media is no longer a social network. I believe that social media is about emotions, rather than conversations, especially negative emotions.

I bring this up because I can go for hours, or even days without looking at threads or FB and when I do I am struck with how negative posts are. They’re not friendly, or constructive, or conversational. They’re negative.

In the last day or two Valais in Switzerland has decided to ban mobile phones from schools. I think this move is short-sighted and focused on the wrong people. In my eyes the issue is not with mobile phones, because they are just a medium. The issue is not with children, because children are keen to learn. I think the focus should be on app developers such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and more.

If we dive into TikTok, when I first used it, I expected an experience similar to the one I had with Seesmic. Video instant messaging. I say something, and then others react, and with time we become friends. TikTok is a talent show where people immitate each other, and follow même culture, rather than converse and create friendships. Apps are the issue, not the platform.

If phones are too distracting in a classroom, then I suggest finding a way that appeals to modern children. I suggest giving them time to do more sports, and to explore. I also suggest finding apps that help them learn, rather than banning a medium.

Mobile phones are a medium. They are a platform, in the same way as paper, literacy and more. If you ban that platform you stop people from becoming familiar with an environment, and you make them more vulnerable to being influenced to hate technology, and abuse it, rather than enjoy and appreciate it.

With educational apps you don’t need to carry heavy books. You can have a printed copy at home, and the mobile app version at school. In this way you can’t forget your book, and the need for lockers is different. Mobile phones are calculators, but also dictionaries, thesaurus and more.

Technology provides children with opportunities, and as technology evolves so does our use of it. When people are given to play with computers, or mobile phones, and more, they are given the opportunity to learn and become familiar with a tool that they can use for the rest of their lives.

We shouldn’t stigmatise the medium. We should stigmatise the apps, and come up with new, ethical, alternatives. I find Instagram to be useless these days, and I found pixelfed to have the same flaws. In my eyes social apps should encourage sharing and friendship, not hashtags and likes.

And Finally

For me the issue does not stem from the medium of mobile phones, or smartphones but of the culture of binstagram, binfluencers, Facebook, TikTok and other apps. For me the issue is with app developers trying to get people addicted to pay to win games. For me the platform is just a platform. For me the European Union and others should work to make better mobile apps.

In my eyes the Fitness App on iPhones is bad because it encourages addictive behaviour, as does the Kindle app. For me the issue isn’t about young people with maturing brains using ill-suited technology. It’s about questionable companies using poor business practices to drive addiction. Mobile phones teach digital literacy, and digital literacy is essential. Ban smartphones and you stunt their digital literacy growth.