Social media is a public health emergency


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London: Do you know what will eventually do in social media? The health issue: it’s killing us, mind and body. As I predicted that on Sky News the other day, it occurred to me that, in a previous decade I would’ve said it with a cigarette on the go, the interviewer pausing to offer me a light.


But just as health scares stopped smoking in public, so social media will eventually become a taboo, even a matter for state regulation. I for one will be very happy. I wish we could uninvent it altogether.


Not a week goes by without another story of its deficiencies.  Mark Zuckerberg is as responsible for what’s posted on his site as I would be for permitting racist haikus to be painted on my roof, and it’s time to stop passing the buck.


Facebook: Is it a health issue?

Facebook: Is it a health issue?


Photo: AP

We’ve had the conversation about how individual users need to learn to be nicer online and, thanks to other legal actions, we’re slowly getting there – but there will always be extremists, fake news and frauds, and these platforms ought to have found a better way of weeding them out by now.


They insist they’re trying their best and that it’s awfully hard – but as Mr Lewis says, their business model militates against doing what it takes. He’s right. Why wouldn’t these sites want to stick to a Wild West model that keeps costs low while maximising profit?


Article source: https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/at-last-more-women-in-music-festivals-lineups-as-crowds-become-female-dominated-20180419-h0yytp.html?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

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