Former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya: "You don't realize it, but you are being programmed" -- Quartz

Former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya: "You don't realize it, but you are being programmed" -- Quartz

'Former Facebook vice president of user growth Chamath Palihapitiya said that social media is "eroding the core foundations of how people behave" and that he feels "tremendous guilt" about creating tools that are "ripping apart the social fabric."...

'"You don't realize it, but you are being programmed ... but now you got to decide how much you're willing to give up, how much of your intellectual independence," he warned the audience. He said he didn't want to be programmed himself, emphasizing he "doesn't use this sh**" and his kids are not allowed to use "this sh**" either--also recommending that everyone take a "hard break" from social media....

'"The things that you rely on, the short-term dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created, are destroying how society works: no civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth," he said....

'"We curate our lives around this perceived sense of perfection because we get rewarded in these short-term signals--hearts, likes, thumbs up--and we conflate that with value, and we conflate it with truth. And instead what it really is is fake, brittle popularity that's short-term and that leaves you even more--admit it--vacant and empty before you did it, because then it forces you into this vicious cycle where you're like 'What's the next thing I need to do now because I need it back?'"'