Should we have warning labels on social media products?
Addiction Economy Thought for Today - Great essay here from the US Surgeon General asking for Warning Labels on social media, saying 'it doesn't have to be this way' and citing different laws to curtail harmful products. (It should be free to read)
In our new White Paper on The Economic Drivers of Addiction we look back on lessons from the 'old school' of harmful products, like cigarettes, gambling, alcohol and unhealthy and ultra processed foods to understand how they continue to succeed whilst decimating the mental and physical health of millions.
What can policy makers learn from them? Or perhaps more pertinently, what can we learn as a society from their continued lack of action leading to widespread harm and death?
We identified 5 key drivers which have lead to the continued flourishing of these Addiction Economy industries at the expense of the rest of us:
1. Addictive product design - Their products are deliberately designed to be addictive but their propensity to cause harm is not designed out at source.
2. Inescapable availability - they are everywhere (in social media case, on our phones).
3. Predatory Marketing - they market their products to those most vulnerable to addiction, the young, the disadvantaged, the most likely to be come addicted.
4. Disinformation - check out @Grant Ennis 9 Frames of Disinformation here, Social Media companies are masters of muddying the water of debate, distracting us from the harms and diverting attention to other less threatening policy areas.
5. Undermining policy action - companies get free rein to undermine policy through huge lobbying budgets, legal threats and exerting political influence.
He is right that so much can be done. But what we find most intriguing is why isn't it done? Why are they still allowed to flourish at the expense of the rest of us?
It is early days in our research, but that is our work for the next year or ten!
Here is our White Paper on the Economic Drivers of Addiction
https://lnkd.in/eYMPjEej
Joe Woof and I are discussing our Addiction and Cyberspace findings for with Tony Curzon Price 's great group Humanity in Cyberspace on July 11th. Lots and lots of work to do on that before then!
Thanks Anja K. for the heads up on this.