I disagree. Platforms like Tiktok take advantage of very specific psychological tricks to lure people’s attention in and keep it where they want it. It’s not the audience’s fault when they don’t notice a magician perform a sleight of hand during a trick. It’s not a victims fault when a thief does the same for ill. I do believe regulation might need to get involved if these platforms are doing harm. The same happened in the gaming space with lootboxes when regulators realized they were essentially marketing gambling to minors. It’s not the minors fault in that case either.
Every for-profit platform does this. Every product package on the shelf does this. It works because someone always finds a way around the prohibition, and we are shirking it responsibility of teaching others-everyone- how to identify it. Magic tricks don’t become uninteresting by making them illegal, they become uninteresting by telling everyone how they work.
I disagree. Platforms like Tiktok take advantage of very specific psychological tricks to lure people’s attention in and keep it where they want it. It’s not the audience’s fault when they don’t notice a magician perform a sleight of hand during a trick. It’s not a victims fault when a thief does the same for ill. I do believe regulation might need to get involved if these platforms are doing harm. The same happened in the gaming space with lootboxes when regulators realized they were essentially marketing gambling to minors. It’s not the minors fault in that case either.
Every for-profit platform does this. Every product package on the shelf does this. It works because someone always finds a way around the prohibition, and we are shirking it responsibility of teaching others-everyone- how to identify it. Magic tricks don’t become uninteresting by making them illegal, they become uninteresting by telling everyone how they work.
Oh yes, education should definitely be a part of the solution.