Like a lot of people, I’ve been thinking about this and talking about it with my wife and friends.  Then, while browsing the Sunday newspapers, a headline caught my eye: “Deleting Facebook Won’t Fix It.”  Quotes from the article below the headline include meaty food for thought.  Such as:

“Even if tens of thousands of Americans quit Facebook tomorrow, the company would barely feel it. Facebook has more than 2.1 billion users worldwide. Its growth has plateaued in the United States, but the service is gaining millions of new users outside North America every week.”

And, later:

“Regulatory interventions (by government) have limitations. As long as Facebook is big and rich, its algorithms will determine and distort much of what we read and watch.”

Then:

“Our long-term agenda should be to bolster institutions that foster democratic deliberation and the rational pursuit of knowledge. These include scientific organizations, universities, libraries, museums, newspapers and civic organizations. They have all been enfeebled over recent years as our resources and attention have shifted to the tiny addictive devices in our hands.”

Important words to ponder.

They were written by Siva Vaidhyanathan. The full article is in Sunday’s New York Times.  Not sure I agree with everything the professor wrote, but I do know that it’s the best thing I have read on the subject.