Ask HN: What is happening?
In the last few days, I’ve been feeling quite depressed. I don’t know how others feel about this, but it’s quite a shock that this is reality. We’re in the middle of a pandemic, yet it seems nobody wants to admit it, address it, or fight against it. Walking along my university aisle, sitting and waiting for the doctor, riding the train, or even driving my car—everywhere I go, everyone seems locked into their smartphones, chasing the next dopamine hit while doom-scrolling through "social media." What does this have to do with social media? The interaction is anything but social. I miss the days when Instagram was a place where you shared a slice of reality, not just generated content designed to grab your attention in the fastest way possible (to match your shrinking attention span) and satisfy your dopamine cravings.
Even though I work in the research area of algorithms and complexity, I love interdisciplinary exchange. The most affected people I’ve met are teachers. They can’t seem to get a handle on the problem: the attention span of children in the classroom is too short. Even if you can debate modern teaching methods, we’re currently raising a generation that isn’t used to paying attention to anything for long; they’re accustomed to being entertained like a king by his court jester. I don’t see technology as the enemy. I’ve learned to love the discipline in all its facets and wouldn’t want to live without it. It’s an enormous advantage—it can bring us closer together and allow us to exchange information more quickly if we use it properly. Nor do I want to demonize social media. I want to raise awareness that algorithms designed solely to manipulate your attention span and keep you on a platform as long as possible can’t be good for humanity. Thinking needs to shift more toward human-centered design; our collective attention needs to focus on this problem. I’d like to hear your opinion. I appreciate the community here, and your perspective might help me come up with new ideas. Many people are aware of these problem and trying to adapt but it may over people's heads. I think everybody involved with children (parents, teachers, etc.) is in a bit of a panic right now. A problem I am chewing on is "how can community organizations organize without Facebook?" The backstory is this film https://www.joinordiefilm.com/ (watch it!) and the time I saw an poster for a board game club in my town that had nothing but a QR code that pointed to a Facebook group (no meeting time!) Thanks for your input! Your question is indeed not easy to answer. To give you my perspective on these aspects, I should mention that I grew up in Germany. In Germany, social networking primarily takes place through associations. If you come to Germany as a foreigner, the best thing you can do is join a sports club. When I think about how I joined back then, without a smartphone or the internet, it was mostly by coincidence—running into someone at school or in the neighborhood who was already active in a club. The schedules were always strictly fixed, so there was no need for organization via group chats or social media. One thing that stands out to me is the importance of volunteerism. In Germany, the majority of civil protection services, including the fire department and disaster relief, are managed by volunteers. Professional firefighters are actually a minority. I joined the youth fire department at a young age, and I stayed because it was simply what we always did. We regularly organized big festivals, and many people attended. These events were a great way to get people excited about what we were doing, and often, they would say, “Hey, I want to do this too!” I'll check out the movie, and I’ll also read Bowling Alone, which is mentioned in this context. It all sounds like structural problems that we also face in Germany. Civil protection services are increasingly struggling with a lack of new recruits, which aligns with the themes of the movie. People often say they don’t want to commit too strongly to one thing anymore. > I don’t see technology as the enemy Technology is a tool and it matters how you use it. You can both kill or cure cancer with radioactivity. I don't think it's good that school teachers are using sensational methods in order to draw attention of pupils only because kids are addicted to their smartphones. Socialmedia apps are the new opium of the people I love how you highlight the dual-use dilemma of technology. You’re absolutely right—it all comes down to how technology is used. Regarding radioactivity: most countries strictly prohibit private individuals from handling radioactive materials. Even though some nations possess nuclear weapons, we haven’t reached a point where everyone has unrestricted access to radioactivity and can harm themselves—unlike social media and its algorithms, which are far less regulated. Sensationalist methods only address the symptoms, not the root cause. I agree with you here—trying to recapture students’ attention with sensational tactics isn’t a real solution. Regarding the opium of the people:
Karl Marx touched on two key ideas that apply: comfort and relief, alongside illusion and passivity. When it comes to comfort and relief, likes, comments, and shares on social media create a sense of recognition and belonging. And yes, personalized content acts as an escape from reality—a kind of painkiller that distracts us from real problems. It’s even more troubling because this “drug” is tailored specifically to each individual. I definitely see the parallels here. However, I’m not convinced that breaking away from this “religion” of social media requires communism, even though Karl Marx was a brilliant thinker. The present shows that, even within existing systems, people can detach themselves from such structures. I kind of wonder if something like the sea change from before-phone to after-phone will happen again in a couple years. What if people switch to subvocalizing with their AI instead of interacting with a screen? That remains speculative. However, voice offers many more dimensions than simply writing on a smartphone—your pitch, speed, and eloquence all serve as potential inputs for algorithms. The ability to always agree with the user, learn from their behavior, and provide only the answers they want to hear is a real possibility.