SIR GUESTLING THORN

 Day 176

Today I have stopped reading the news, enough! I am off to Crete even though yet again one of the flights has been altered and we will now have to stay a further two days, what a chore! I will be resisting the urge to go on Twitter and other social media and if I do only briefly. The algorithms these tech giants use to target us are now so sophisticated that even those who have written them no longer understand how they have developed, they learn, we are already in the age of AI, it is not the future it is here right now! We are each targeted with information tailored by these algorithms to send news and adverts based on past and present activity.We are no longer all sharing the same news! Naturally this is to increase revenue from advertising. We think we are the user, we are actually their product! Because of the free way the internet has been allowed to develop it has little legislation to curb what these huge companies do. They say they will self police but when you are making the billions why would you curb your own cash cow? 

We are sent down rabbit holes, fed conspiracies and it very easy to use their platforms to manipulate data and target huge amounts of peoples to sway their opinion and more importantly undermine democracy and the voting patterns during elections. This is not “hacking” this is just other countries, groomers, terrorists and many others using the system tools that already exist. These sites did not set-up with any thought of manipulating us or causing anxiety because you did not get enough “likes” they wrote their software with the best of intentions but like many things those intentions can also be used for nefarious purposes. 

The power of the internet has increased at a rate never before seen in human history as a comparison the motor car has ruffly doubled in speed in a hundred years, the internet has increased by 800% in 20 years! 

For the generations who are now brought up knowing nothing of what it was like without this technology the likelihood of being “hooked” to their devices is almost inevitable and we know how addictive they can be. They are the cause of increases in suicide in teenage girls, which has risen by 145% since 2010 (it is not the sole reason but research, if it can be believed, shows it is one of the main contributing factors). They platforms that run on them are designed to be addictive that is how they raise profit. 

I am not against this technology, indeed for over 20 years I made a good living from it. I have nothing against the internet I believe it is a wonderful tool when used for research and education etc. IT has enhanced society and improved our infrastructure and operations, it has helped to speed the development of medicine, science and many other areas that would not have without it. 

Unfortunately much as I dislike legislating against this medium, I am of the opinion it must be done, self regulation will not work, the people must regain control over our data. The genie is out of the bottle and cannot be put back in but we must be granted some measure of control over the the three wishes!

Stay well