I’ve been calling social media companies “the tobacco companies of the mind” for years. Modern social media like Instagram and TikTok are not even social. They

I’ve been calling social media companies “the tobacco companies of the mind” for years. Modern social media like Instagram and TikTok are not even social. They are just skinner boxes that crowdsource and amplify addictive content to keep people staring and scrolling. Social media started to stop being social when algorithmic timelines, weighting of content for engagement, and monetization were introduced. The next major innovation in the field will be pure AI generation of the feed. No more human sources at all, just endless amounts of mindless addictive filler fine tuned for each person. You can already see it on kids channels on YouTube where the content is at least part machine generated and is pure mindless drivel. The adult version is coming I’m sure. Edit: actually I think Replika may be the first adult AI Skinner box of note. Imagine that model crossed with TikTok.