Itchy Bonez

Why the Media Wants You Scared

The first thing to remember is that above all else, media companies are based on making a profit. They all have investors or shareholders who expect a financial return. Even charities and not-for-profit organisations have to generate some kind of revenue which dictates how they market themselves.

Then you have to think about how media companies drive revenue. They get people like you and me to consume their content. Doesn't matter if it's traditional television, streaming media, social media or radio - they all work the same. The more engaging the content, the more people it attracts and the longer they stay engaged.

Now think about what makes content engaging with the widest possible audience. We are fundamentally creatures of instinct and taping in to our flight or fight (or freeze) instincts is one of the most effective ways of getting our attention. It's easier to come up with things that create fear in people (financial hardships, personal danger, loss of liberty, intimidation, etc.) then the endless ways in which we find other kinds of gratification.

Ever wonder why the media seems to be an endless loop of death, destruction and doom? Ever wonder why social media is so full of animosity, aggression and hated? Now you know. Stoking our fear is the cheapest way of generating revenue. We are the livestock and the media is farming us for all we're worth.

Information Warfare is Nothing New

The Cold War might be over (or is it?) but the tools of information warfare are just as useful to business and we have so much better tools these days. Algorithm-driven social engineering using vasts amounts of data harvested from a willing or oblivious population have become the norm. And it's not just dodgy states and cyber criminals using these tools. Respectable political parties and corporations use them too - they just use them to win votes or make you buy more stuff you don't need.

Maybe 'Influencer' is just another way of saying information warfare specialist...

Why Doesn't the Government Fix It?

Once Pandora's box was opened it was too late. Tech-savvy political parties saw how effective and easy it was to manipulate narratives by fueling the fear factory media companies were only too happy to crank up to maximum output.

Not much gets media frothing at the mouth more than a juicy political scandal and what politician passes up an opportunity to weaken a rival when an opportunity presents itself?

No, our political parties are not likely to give up one of their most powerful tools to achieve success.

Why don't social media platforms fix it?

Because it's not in their interests to fix it. They make money by farming data on the content you engage with. The more you engage, the more profit you make for them.

It's also prohibitively expensive to put in place the kind of oversight required to effectively police all the content on a social media platform.

It's not a very good business plan to restrict your revenue stream and incur avoidable costs.

What can little people like us do about it?

• Choose our input and use our critical thinking. Decide if we trust the content we are consuming and consciously avoid content we know is only intended to distract or manipulate us.

• Stop. Turn off the 24/7 news channel. Break free from the infinite scrolling. Disable some of those push notifications. Unsubscribe from all those websites trying to make you buy shit you don't need and sell you data.

• Keep things in perspective. Maybe the world is not in a worse state than it used to be. Maybe we're bombarded with so much information that it just feels that way. Go back a few decades and we just didn't have the kind of access to information we have now. Availability bias is real and insidious influence that takes a lot of effort to counter.

• Be part of the solution. Turn it off. Ask questions. Reply with authenticity. Be you and not just some livestock for others to profit from.

Conclusion

The threat is existential and too big to fix by changing the rules. It might just be an inherent part of being human, our thirst for more knowledge, and we might just have to try and survive the information age.

IB

This my place for expressing my views and opinions on whatever subjects take my fancy. You might disagree with them and you might even find them offensive. You always have the option to stop reading and go somewhere else.

I don't care if you think I'm wrong and I don't care if you're offended. You might feel the need to tell me exactly how wrong and/or offensive I am. If you want to mail me about something, good or bad, go right ahead but I make no promises. I might read it. I might not. I might respond. I might not.

IB