Innovation in America
Since its inception, America has embraced, developed and encouraged innovation in every aspect of society, all in the interest of making and improving a world open to all ideas and dreams. Technology has been a core of that trail and has improved American society for many years and innovation has been so accelerated in growth and speed as the world in which we live today. But perhaps the greatest influential innovations have been in social media.
Innovative young entrepreneurs started companies that have helped improve the life of American citizens in areas like economic growth, productivity, Healthcare, Education and Communication. The founders accumulate $17 Trillion dollars in wealth/valuations. Take, for example, Apple: $3.7T, Microsoft: $3T, Google: $2T, Facebook: $1.7T, Nvidia: $3T, Amazon: $2.25T, and Tesla: $1T.
Social media technologies pervasive to modern living.
With wealth comes responsibility. Society looks to them for their contribution to that responsibility. It is not a call to all of us to quell or pursue technology ideas, but to have a social responsibility to speak and seek the truth.
Through community education, involved dialogue campaigns, we will seek to increase awareness, understanding and improving laws where the U.S. is lagging behind other societies and applied technology.
The Dark Side of Social Media
The explosion of social media use around the world has created many problems in society. Much of that unfortunately comes from wealthy individuals or corporations. At the root of this growing plant is the dissemination of misinformation, disinformation and all too often, outright lies. This will continue to happen unless everyone who understands their responsibility tries to change it, no matter how small or large their voice may be.
America has been lagging in providing safeguards to make those who ignore or misuse their responsibilities to provide truth in the interests of protecting its citizens. Other nations and individuals who recognize this problem and the danger it poses to all have been ahead of us. So, let's start with trying to reform social media in a responsible and non-partisan manner.
Negative Impacts
- Financial distress
- Increased Anxiety
- Addiction-like Behavior
- Shortened Attention Spans
- Echo Chambers
- Political Polarization
- Radicalization, Economic Impact Scams
- Business disruption
- Personal Data Exploitation
- Identity theft
- Mental Health issues / Depression
- Body image issues
- Cyberbullying
- Impact on brain development
- Self-harm / Suicide
- Exposure to Inappropriate Content
- Reduced Physical and Social Activity
- Parental Control Issues
- Romance scams / Sextortion
- Phishing
- Investment scams
Access to powerful technology at a young age.
Global Comparisons and the Path Forward
Europe has been aggressive in protecting its citizens: regulating online intermediaries and platforms, ensuring the protection of users, preventing the spread of illegal content and disinformation, protecting individuals' personal data and privacy, and granting users greater control over their information.
America has been lagging in protecting its citizens and one of the reasons is the $17 trillion dollars in wealth of the technology companies.
Proposed Solutions
- Laws: Evaluate current CT laws, compare to other U.S. states, analyze laws of other countries and the EU to see how they positively impacted their society.
- Education: Deliver digital literacy in communities to assess online content. Use education to mitigate the effects, e.g., showing parents how to restrict phone usage. Teach about current fraud and scams.
- Communication: Leverage media such as Instagram, Facebook, emails, and text messages. Launch campaigns to inform the public about online safety, the risks of sharing personal information, and methods to identify and avoid cyber threats.
- Resources: Utilize existing tools and guidelines to enhance safety and privacy on social media platforms.
- Technology: Implement fact-checking tools, develop kid-friendly devices, and introduce bully-detection systems. Social media platforms should adopt safety and privacy measures to build trust.
America needs to engage with bright, young leaders who grew up on these platforms and understand the technology and misuse of these platforms to help us solve these issues.
We are looking for funding sources to build and develop a Center for Social Media Reform at UCONN Stamford that will address these issues.