Tag: Social media

Escape AI-generated slop and social media outrage; see the real world. Know the benefits of nature, humility, and kindness for you and others

Intersections

In a world increasingly filled with AI-generated slop of all kinds and a social media landscape dominated by an outrage machine that is engineered to addict people and steal their attention and privacy, it is important to know there is an alternative. And that alternative does not mean burying your nose in other media 24 hours a day. The alternative is simple … but can…

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Should information be shared freely? Should information be controlled? What should it cost?

Intersections

Should information be shared freely? That is, should content (text, images, videos, etc.) be shared without heavy external control (usually aimed at making as much money or gaining as much power as possible)? And should the information be able to be accessed and shared at no additional cost? Is transparency and free access a part of the common good? Or, at the other end of…

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The perils of AI-generated deepfake videos

Intersections

“… AI tools to generate and edit content are getting more advanced, easier to operate, and cheaper to run—all reasons why the US government is increasingly paying to use them. We were well warned of this, but we responded by preparing for a world in which the main danger was confusion. What we’re entering instead is a world in which influence survives exposure, doubt is…

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You have the power to make your own decisions about issues important to your life–use it!

Intersections

It can seem–sometimes very visibly and brutally–that we are losing the ability to make and influence decisions about our own lives.  That no matter what we do and what we want, forces greater than us and our families and even our communities will steamroll us in order to impose someone else’s will–and that generally means greater power and greater wealth for a set of politicians…

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AI and humans interacting

AI, social media, the Internet and how we experience the world; what is real? what are the impacts?

Intersections

It is common these days to see people walking their dogs or walking along streets, in parks, staring at or speaking to their smart phones. Yes, they are physically out in the “real” world but, in reality, they are deeply immersed within the artificial world created by AI, social media, and, yes, the Internet. In this hybrid existence, what is real? What actually exists? What…

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Tribalism: used by politicians and corporations to divide, dominate, and manipulate society

Intersections

Tribalism has been used for centuries by some politicians, dictators, authoritarians, etc. (including religious leaders) and, more recently, by some large corporations to divide, dominate, and manipulate societies. Statements by the Trump administration in the United States, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Narendra Modi in India, among others, offer prime examples. The motivations to divide and dominate are often power and greed….

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Negative impacts of smartphone and social media use on adolescent mental health

Featured Article

*Capraro, V., Globig, L., Rausch, Z., Rathje, S., Wormley, A. S., Olson, J., … Van Bavel, J. J. (2025, May 15). A consensus statement on potential negative impacts of smartphone and social media use on adolescent mental health. PsyArXiv. [PDF] [Cited by] “The impact of smartphones and social media use on adolescent mental health remains widely debated. To clarify expert opinion, we convened over 120…

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Cartoon illustration of phubbing

Phubbing: psychology, harms, and more — more fallout from technology addiction

Intersections

“Phubbing refers to the act of ignoring one’s immediate social interactions in favor of engaging with a smartphone” (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phubbing). The word is a combination of “phone” and “snubbing.” Since the word was coined and the phenomenon became common from the early 2010’s, significant research on phubbing has taken place. Like many facets of our digital world where large for-profit corporations and governments work to…

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Information independence!

Intersections

We live in a world awash with misinformation and disinformation. “Misinformation is false or inaccurate information—getting the facts wrong. Disinformation is false information which is deliberately intended to mislead—intentionally misstating the facts.” Disinformation in particular, often leveraged through X, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms, and created by political, corporate, criminal, and other bad actors besieges us on a daily basis. It’s a never…

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