For a brainy day

In the early 18th Century, panic swept Great Britain. Public order was breaking down, children being abandoned by their parents, thousands falling into poverty and despair. The culprit was gin, a cheap but strong spirit that had become extremely popular amongst the poor. By 1743, the average person in England was drinking 10 litres of gin every year.

Now some think we are in the grip of a new panic. But this time the culprit is not drink, but apps.

Almost 60% of people aged 13 to 17 in the US say they use YouTube several times a day. Just under 20% report they are using it near constantly. The figures for TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram are similar.¹

Researchers are finding that this much social media use has effects that are just as devastating as other drugs in history, especially on mental health. The number of children and young people being referred to mental health services has risen by 77% since 2019.²

Experts believe that prolonged social media use makes young people more sensitive to feedback from others. This exacerbatesMakes worse. feelings of anxiety and depression.

Social media algorithmsAny set of rules followed by a computer. In the context of social media, "the algorithm" refers to the intelligent AI that learns the interests of the user and presents them with posts that it thinks will interest them. are also primed to show young people content that can damage their self-image. They have even been linked with eating disorders.

And the sites are designed to be addictive. Refreshing a social media feed, or waiting for another TikTok video to come up, makes us feel good, and we keep doing it.

Now one thinker believes we need stronger laws to protect us from these harms. In a new book, Professor Nita Farahany claims we should have an official set of rights to keep Big Tech from meddling with our brains.

The problem, she argues, is not just the effects that algorithms and addictive content are already having on our brains. It is that technology is accelerating quickly. Soon Big Tech might be able to read our thoughts directly.

Other experts, however, say this is getting ahead of ourselves. They insist there is not enough evidence that Big Tech really is affecting our brains. 

There are many other reasons, they argue, for the mental health crisis, and we will not solve it by obsessing over social media.

Yes: Our brain is the most precious thing we have. If we are not careful, it will become yet another thing for Big Tech to commodifyMake into a sellable product. and control. We need legal guarantees for our mental privacy.

No: The evidence that Big Tech is really hijacking our brains is not all that strong. A set of specific rights to protect our heads might only cause confusion.

Or... There is no such thing as a brain that is not influenced by any external force. We are who we are because of the influences that imprint themselves on us, willingly or not. It is silly to worry too much about controlling them.