"The things you own end up owning you." Chuck Palahniuk
The headlines keep coming. In March, we learned that Global Science Research and Cambridge Analytica harvested the data of 50 million Facebook users, as part of it’s work with the Brexit and Trump campaigns. According toformer Facebook platform operations manager Sandy Parakilas, the company’s approach to data protection was very lax. By many appearances, Facebook’s conduct was either incredibly naive or, outright negligent. Plenty has been written about the alleged use of Facebook to influence the 2016 US presidential elections, as well as the Brexit vote in the UK, and the spread of false information (better known as “fake news”) on Facebook.
Twitter has also faced negative scrutiny in recent years. A recent study by MIT researchers found that untruths spread more quickly and deeply on Twitter, than factually accurate stories. Twitter has also faced charges of censorship of political conservatives, in response to Twitter’s efforts to clean up bot accounts(automated accounts which are often not directly run by actual people). Harassment has also been a persistent problem on Twitter as well, with perhaps the most prominent example being the torrent of abuse faced by Saturday Night Live comedian and Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones, shortly after the release of the film in 2016.
At the same time, a range of observers have raised concerns over the possible addictive effects of platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Justin Rosenstein, a prominent Facebook alumnus, who helped develop the “Like” button, now fears the addictive power of the app, and has limited his use of the platform. The same is true of Leah Pearlman, the former Facebook product manager who announced the Like feature Rosenstein helped create. Sean Parker, Facebook’s first president, admits that the platforms was designed to keep users engaged for as long as possible, and has raised concerns about it’s impact on children’s brains.
A paper from researchers at the University of Chicago suggests that Twitter usage might be harder to resist than cigarette or alcohol consumption. Additional research, featured in Harvard Business Review, found that Facebook usage may reduce overall happiness and mental health, in large part due to negative self-comparison. Social networking also seems to make us more distracted and less focused.
Where does all of this leave you, me, and the multitude of individuals across the planet, who use these platforms, often on a regular basis? How can we better manage the time spent on Facebook or Twitter? Also, how can we control the content we consume, and how we interpret it, to gain a fuller picture of the truth, rather than simply viewing events and issues through the frame that Facebook’s or Twitter’s algorithm presents to us? I’ve got some ideas.
How To Use Facebook & Twitter Less
In May 2016, I wrote a piece about how cutting back my usage of Facebook had made me happier. At the time, I was using Facebook for about 20 minutes per day. Looking back, I wonder how I could have spent so much time on there. Today, I check Facebook once per week (usually on Saturdays), and try to limit my usage to about 20 minutes, though it has been known to last for somewhat longer. I follow a similar rule for Instagram.
The thing is, doing this wasn’t easy. At first, I often felt an urge to open my Facebook feed, and start clicking, commenting, and scrolling. It’s not hard to see how Facebook is so good at engaging and retaining users.
As Sean Parker noted, Facebook’s Like feature gives users “a little dopamine hit…..it’s social-validation feedback loop.” Other parts of the app, including the design of the News Feed and Notifications features, are intended to keep users engaged for as long as possible. The same is true of Twitter’s feed (to a lesser extent perhaps), with the heart (Love) button, and Retweet features. Nir Eyal’s Hooked: How To Build Habit-Forming Products sheds light on the core principles behind digital (and other) products which retain eyeballs, driving the behavior behind Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many others.
How do we avoid excessive use of products designed with a unique understanding of our psychology, and with a high potential for addictive behavior? First, we must acknowledge that we have control over our use of these platforms. We can make a change.
I find it useful to apply the framework offered by Charles Duhigg in his excellent book The Power of Habit. Duhigg, drawing upon a range of research, argues that so much of what we do in life is driven by habits, specifically a habit loop, made of a cue, a routine, and a reward.
A cue is something which prompts us to take a particular action, that is, to follow a routine. In the case of Facebook or Twitter browsing, this might be a feeling for boredom, a need for distraction, or a desire for social connection with one’s friends. A routine is the behavior or actions we engage in, i.e. using Facebook or Twitter. A reward is some sort of a feeling we experience after that action, such as connectedness, or a feeling of stimulation.
There are two tricks here. First, you must isolate the cue, which causes you to plunge into an abyss of clicking, liking, and commenting. It could be that you are bored at work, and have 5 minutes to kill. Or, you are unwinding on the couch, after a long day, thinking about what some of your friends have been up to. There are certain environments and situations which prompt Facebook usage.
Now, you must understand your reward. Perhaps Facebook offers a distraction to occupy your bored mind, or makes you feel closer to your friends, whom you don’t get to see too often. What alternate activity might soothe these feelings? Perhaps you could read a passage from a book you really like, or listen to your favorite song playlist? Maybe you can text a friend to say hello? You’ll have to test out what works best.
Lastly, offer yourself a new reward, ideally with a non-addictive behavior of some sort. Maybe for each day or week you avoid using Facebook for more than the allotted time, you can indulge in your favorite dessert, or watch a movie you really like. Anything which offers positive stimulation for your efforts, will be more than enough. Eventually you won’t need this reward.
The point is to understand situations which cause you to use these platforms, and fashion an appropriate response, so that you avoid overuse. It is also important that you define what is an appropriate amount to use Facebook, Twitter, or any other platform. I may only use it for 20 minutes per week, but you might feel it’s best to take a look every day.
By implementing these strategies, we can avoid some of the addictive effects which Rosenstein and others worry about. Reducing one’s Facebook and Twitter usage is a process, not something which happens overnight. However, treating excessive usage of these social tools as a habit, which we can change, rather than something which requires intense willpower (a strategy which often doesn’t work), increases our chances of success.
You Become What You Consume
People must enjoy broad latitude, in terms of what they view and share on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and elsewhere. Other than doxxing, outright abuse, and the sharing of copyrighted content, I believe more speech is a good thing, and censorship ought to be avoided.
Of course, companies like Facebook and Twitter exercise considerable powerthrough their algorithms, which determines what will appear on your newsfeed. What you are viewing is a carefully curated snapshot of the content or information available — there is nothing random about any of this.
In large part, what we see on Facebook is decided by how the platform decides to use our online behavior to maintain our attention, and encourage us to click on ads. It is a product of how we, or our friends, like or share certain items, follow or unfollow certain people and pages, and what we engage with online (even outside of Facebook). When it comes to social media, Facebook especially, you are the product.
All of this can lead to confirmation bias, where we exclusively consume information which supports our existing worldview. Americans tend to be more politically segregated, both by geography as well as their friend circles, than ever before, which further aggravates this trend.
Facebook has also faced persistent criticism for how easily false informationspreads on the platform. In part, this is due to psychological phenomena such as confirmation bias and the illusory truth effect (where we start to believe claims we’ve heard repeatedly, whether true or false). When you combine the volume of data Facebook collects on users, with our mental flaws, it is easy to see how someone who wishes to manipulate us politically and socially, could use Facebook quite effectively. Even without any nefarious motivations, Facebook shows us what we want to see, and that can lead us further away from a fuller picture of reality.
You have a choice in terms of how much time you spend on these websites, what you consume on there, and how you interpret it. You can choose whether to click (and to believe) an article or video which plays into your worldview, but presents just a snapshot of a more complex reality. You are capable of making a deliberate effort to verify whether what you read is accurate, perhaps by researching alternate viewpoints, and seeking out differing perspectives. It is possible to engage with content which falls outside of subjects you are traditionally interested in, and learn something new.
You might also acknowledge how your biases shape the ways you interpret information, and what you choose to emphasize (and overlook). Annie Duke, a famed poker player and expert on decision making, argues for having an accountability partner, to help us understand our flaws in our reasoning. Books like Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow and Shane Parrish’s blog Farnam Street help to understand flaws in human thought and behavior, and how you might implement more effective mental models.
This isn’t easy. It involves real work and reflection. However, if we are going to walk through the minefield of content presented to us on Facebook and Twitter, it is important that we have frameworks in place, to think more openly and clearly. Otherwise, we’ll always have a distorted picture of the world.
The Final Word
Are Facebook and Twitter a net positive for humanity? Only time will tell.
These platforms have found ways to connect people (and by extension, ideas), in a way that was inconceivable just a few decades earlier. They have meaningfully shaped how news and information spreads, advertising (especially in the case of Facebook), and the nature of our personal interactions. They have made it possible for a greater range of voices to be heard, outside of famous journalists or celebrities. We’ve gained a closeup view of world events, outside of the filters of the media (as seen with the Arab Spring in 2011, which millions across the globe watched unfold in real time through Twitter).
At the same time, our collective experience with Facebook and Twitter hasn’t been without serious challenges. There are real questions around how Facebook and Twitter shape our mental state, overall happiness, and ability to focus on a task at length. Both of these apps have an important impact on our filter of the world.
It is clear that we must control how often we use Facebook and Twitter, and what we view while on there. The good news is, we are very much capable of doing so. With the right habits and mindsets in place, we can be part of these platforms in a healthy manner - without them owning us.
