Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1367665
Rethinking Human Connections in Digital Spaces I n addition to its other panels and presentations about technology's reshaping of labor and entertainment, the 3rd Annual Labor Innovation & Technology Summit hosted Realigning Technology with Humanity, a one-on-one interview between SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris and Tristan Harris, co- founder and president of the Center for Humane Technology. Harris, who appeared in the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, spoke at length about "the attention economy," a term used to describe the commodification of human engagement in online spaces. He not only discussed the real-life effects of social media on people's mental and emotional health, but also how such sites are changing the collective understanding of social, political and cultural issues. "This business model of [social media is] commodifying and mining human attention ... taking the free consciousness of your mind and turning it into predictable slabs of human behavior," he said. "We are worth more when we are turned into dead slabs of human behavior … than we are as a living, breathing, thriving democracy." In calling out Facebook, he noted that the site's business model is selling users' attention to advertisers, and that the site's algorithms constantly serve up content that will keep users engaged. As an example, Harris referred to recommendations the site offers its users. He said that for new moms that are part of a do-it-yourself baby food group, the top recommendations were anti-vaccination conspiracy groups for mothers. "Once you join that group, the most engaging groups were 'Pizzagate,' QAnon and flat Earth," he said. "It started sending you down the conspiracy theory trail because those were the things best at keeping your attention." Harris also delved into what is needed to reverse the trend and create what he called "common ground about the breakdown of common ground." "When I think about what it is going to take to unscramble this reality, I imagine companies and advertisers acknowledging this reality warp and coming together," said Harris. "Just like how advertisers are taking on gender and racial equity, there also needs to be 'reality equity.' As long as we're standing together and understand the ways technology has controlled us, we have a hope of controlling it." View the presentation at sagaftra.org/videos under the "Technology" tab.