Blog 1:
Social Media Accountability Activist Manager:
If I could be anything right now, this is what I would be. I would design an accountability group to drive companies to manage the negative effects of their businesses. The first one I would tackle is social media platforms. What harm have they done? How can they reverse the effects of this? I’m not talking about removing the “like” button or installing a “watch my time on-line” function.
About ten years ago, I thought amazon should host an “altruistic Alexa”, that could have been a more wholistic approach. Left unchecked for so long, today we need real reparations. I would take all that data they alchemize (and sell) to help us become more efficient and repurpose it to capture the emotional harm they’ve caused our children (increased teen depression and suicide to name a few) and the political division that’s been fueled. Then, I would help them to invest in the root of the problem… education, health and wellness of the individual. It’s not about cancelling anyone; it’s about strengthening the necessary parts of humanity to be better digesters. The question I have is, should the companies oversee reversing the effects under their own roof? Or should they be required to invest in our infrastructure and/or provide service and research for support? Perhaps it’s a blend. I’m a proponent of infrastructure. Whether you like it or not, we need it. However, it needs to function with wisdom. Those who run our infrastructure and work it need to also be good digesters and have the right intentions – for the better of the people. I understand this is very nuanced and difficult because we are so diverse as a people. But are we really?
Private social media companies have so much power and no accountability. If you kill someone, you should be held accountable. Recently, TikTok hosted and is responsible for a challenge that killed two minors. Whose responsibility is this? The parent? Government? How about the company itself, wouldn’t that be more mature? You act poorly, you hurt others, you have a consequence, a chance to redeem yourself and a way to make sure this never happens again.
I can be quixotic and there is no panacea, but action is required.
Here are a few current good reads (there are endless others) on the subject that indicate some reasons why and how these platforms can become such bad actors. (If you haven’t watched Social Dilemma that is a mandatory starting point).
TikTok and its influencers have a secret sponsored content problem – Vox
We can all become bad actors, but as humans we have the ability and the responsibility to help fix the harm we’ve done.
Quote of the day:
Impermanence is not just something gone- it’s transformation and there’s creativity in it. Awareness and consciousness are ceaselessly responding. We can play a little more, but it doesn’t mean there are no consequences or that it doesn’t matter. It all matters because everything is responding.
-Me (with the insight of many others)
Credit to Mark Nepo for the title of my website. He told a beautiful story and shared his poem called The Second Half during an MEA course. We are all training for the heron and we might not even know it.
From Ian Bremmer’s newsletter: I find this noteworthy progress.
Social media companies are responsible for the decline in mental health among youth and should be held accountable accordingly.
In a perfect world, they would:
1. Warn users about the dangers their products pose and ask for informed consent
2. Stop marketing/advertising social media to kids and teens and restrict access to 18+ or 21+, just like tobacco and alcohol
3. Fund youth prevention and education programs
4. Pay for damages if they’re found to be legally negligent
(A human can dream…)
training for the heron 
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