Addiction to the Internet and social networks
Hi all.
Recently I was once again amazed at how dependent on technology I have become. My home Internet in Moscow is turned off, because I come for raids for a couple of days and think that I can get by with mobile Internet. And then I arrived, and apparently some kind of accident occurred at the MTS in the Sviblovo / Botanical Garden metro area. Instead of a full network reception scale, the smartphone showed one bar (or even zero). The network jumped from 4G to Edge, and the Internet speed was not even enough to update Telegram or access the Russian Railways application, not to mention the car sharing application.
The situation did not change the next day: I put on my headphones and went to the store to buy avocado, almond milk and sanctioned jamon for breakfast. It took about 10 minutes to walk to the store, and all this time Yandex Music could not start playing songs. In the store I had to pay not with the card I wanted, but with the one my smartphone allowed. The “World of Pay” application froze at the moment of launch, showing the start screen with the words “Data Processing” (I should have just turned off the mobile Internet, but at that moment I didn’t think about it at the checkout).
All these are little things, the weather is good outside, the sun is shining, but I feel a subconscious irritation due to the fact that my mobile Internet does not work: I cannot listen to music and do not receive notifications from personal and work chats. And I feel a kind of withdrawal.
I will not open America for you if I say that social networks have long turned into a “drug for the brain.” There is nothing more pleasant than, after a hard day at work, to collapse on the sofa and stare at your phone. These could be social network feeds, reels, shorts or telegram channels. At the same time, the essence is the same: you scroll through without thinking. This happens to me even with news channels. You take your smartphone in the evening to see what happened that day, scroll through these 50-60 posts, 5 minutes pass, and you don’t remember anything.
Legislators in the most progressive state in the world, California, have also thought about the fact that social networking feeds have turned into a drug. The state’s governor has signed a bill to protect children from social security tapes, which will take effect in January 2027.
The essence of the bill is to prohibit Internet companies from creating “addictive social media feeds” for minors. Main provisions of the bill:
- the effect applies to users “identified as minors.” Moreover, identification will be on the side of Internet companies. They must verify the user’s age, that is, make sure that he is really a minor.
- social networks cannot send notifications about new content from 8 am to 3 pm (school time) and from midnight to 6 am. Parents must consent to receive notifications.
- The news feed for minors should primarily show posts from friends and acquaintances in chronological order. Nowadays, social networks like to show the most viral posts first.
Surprisingly, such a good initiative also faced criticism, to quote The Los Angeles Times:
“Several LGBTQ+ youth advocacy groups believe the bill could limit youth’s ability to use platforms that offer emotional support for their identity, especially for children living in communities that may be hostile to their identity.”
Here, of course, I would like to be amazed at the sophistication of the algorithms, which apparently can quickly identify who is L and who is K+. And show relevant content.
However, overall, the signed bill is very good. Social networks today have truly turned into monsters that, by hook or by crook, are trying to attract the user so that he spends more time behind the screen of his smartphone. So, often, having entered one of the prohibited social networks (and allowed ones too), you can scroll through the feed for a couple of minutes until you come across a post from a friend or acquaintance.
Such a limitation shows the immaturity of humanity as a species. It sounds pompous, but that’s how it is. Social media feeds with a lot of ridiculous videos are destructive. You will go to a forbidden network, and there they will tell you how much you should earn, what benefits you should have, and show you the owners of these benefits, many of whom have just finished school and are already flying private planes to Dubai. And such videos not only do not carry a useful semantic load and are as far from reality as possible, but can also cause depression. Accordingly, in theory, such videos should receive the lowest priority in search results.
However, the opposite is true, and such videos are shown first because they cause the greatest engagement and emotional response from the user. And, probably, if every person had psychological fortitude and critical thinking, he would simply not look at such posts, considering them a waste of time. And then the algorithm would pessimize them.
And if the user himself does not have willpower, then perhaps the Internet company should take responsibility for the users, deciding what is bad for them and what is good? On the other hand, using the example of one global company that manages an entire country, we see that this is not always pleasant and works out well. Although, perhaps, another reason is that they are offering to replace the awl with soap (YouTube on RuTube).
Meta* Connect 2024
Recently, an information terrorist cell that preys on the weaknesses of humanity and is led by the richest Jew in the world, according to Fortune magazine, held a Meta* Connect event.
Meta* Connect is an annual developer conference where Meta* talks about new technologies and shows off new hardware.
This year Meta* showed a whole bunch of new virtual and augmented reality glasses. This, perhaps, can be interpreted as the fact that the failures of Apple Vision Pro have not cooled the ardor.
So, for starters, the show showed a cheaper version of the Meta Quest 3 virtual reality helmet. Meta Quest 3S costs $299, runs on the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset and has two LCD screens, like in the previous generation helmet.
Obviously, by lowering the price, Meta* is trying to expand its user base, tempting users with the affordability of the device.
A much more interesting announcement is the prototype of Orion glasses. Zuckerberg called the glasses “Orain” (that’s how he pronounced them) the most advanced augmented reality glasses in the world. And it really does look like the future because Orion glasses combine the capabilities of the Meta Quest headset in a compact form factor.
At the presentation, Zuckerberg outlined several principles in accordance with which the glasses were created. So, they had to become compact and weigh less than 100 g (magnesium body), and the built-in displays had to be bright and clear enough to allow the device to be used in any conditions. The glasses should display a picture the size of several monitors.
To control the glasses, the kit includes a neurobracelet that allows you to read the movement of the user’s arm muscles, converting them into control of virtual screens.
For now, this is a prototype that is not going to be sold. The developers say that they still need to work on the shape and quality of the built-in screens. However, the glasses are already fully functional and can operate on a single charge for approximately 3 hours.
The headset supports games and desktops, allowing you to control them using gestures and shaking your head.
And although they showed a prototype that will still be tested and refined for a couple of years, in this case there is already a feeling that this is what the device that will replace smartphones should look like.
And in general, this is a technology that can radically change the image of the world. The prevailing idea now is that screens are the future. And companies compete by releasing smartphones and laptops with flexible screens, as well as TVs with 8K resolution.
Or it may turn out that glasses are the future. And numerous screens around are not needed. You can watch a movie together wearing glasses, you just need to synchronize the video streams. Instead of a laptop, you just need to take a Bluetooth keyboard with you to quickly type, and you will always have several screens in front of your eyes. Next, holograms, which are now replete with science fiction films, will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
So it’s likely that in a few years, smartphones, laptops and TVs will be perceived as outdated as feature phones. And people will sigh, remembering how beautiful smartphones used to be, but now all these glasses are the same type. Although, perhaps, smartphones will become companions for glasses at first. Still, smartphone cameras are definitely better.
Conclusion
In the case of AR glasses, the gain for all participants is visible. Users get new opportunities: the screen is always in front of your eyes. That is, you can watch social networks, films, letters or documents, even while stuck in the subway. And this is the kind of attractive thing that will overcome the pain of having to wear bulky glasses.
Software developers will also benefit, since there is an opportunity to outrun the giants. For example, Excel is an office standard, but if someone suggests how to conveniently edit tables using AR glasses, then he will undoubtedly receive a lot of clients and will be able to sell his version of the software (although he would rather just sell to Microsoft).
Game studios will be able to offer new games tailored to a different approach to control. There will also be many lifestyle apps that will tell the user where to look. For example, Samokat will release an application with recipes, which will simultaneously encourage you to place an order.
Meta* will be absolutely delighted with his own invention. After all, now she will literally be able to monitor the user’s eyes and sensations. And sell advertising based on this. If a user looks at pineapple a lot, then perhaps he wants pineapple and should be advertised for pineapples.
So it is quite likely that in five years everyone will be wearing dark glasses in subway cars. However, we have an exciting period ahead of us. People are already looking at smartphone screens on the go, crashing into everything. And here the screens will always be in front of their eyes. There will also be experts speaking about harm to vision, personality degradation, etc.
Finally, about the price. Zuckerberg believes that it will be at the level of flagship smartphones and laptops.
*Meta Platforms, which includes the social networks Facebook, Instagram and Threads, is recognized as an extremist organization and banned in the Russian Federation.
Source: mobile-review.com
