I grew up playing video games like Doom, Starcraft, and Descent. The games had violent content, but they didn't make me violent.
The games developed and got more habit-forming, and I spent more and more time on them. I played Counter-Strike online for thousands of hours. Most of those hours were not enjoyable. I lost 6 months of my life to EverQuest, an MMORPG. Never again. Many of my classmates in university played World of Warcraft for 3+ hours every day. Some played it instead of studying and failed out of university.
Now, habit-forming features are integrated into all kinds of software, including apps for children. Puzzle games earn more money than traditional gambling apps [0], mostly from ads. An 8-year-old is no match for a team of PhDs. Given the chance, most children would spend every waking minute using an iPad or phone. The more hours children spend playing games and watching videos, the fewer hours they spend reading books, building things, exercising creativity, making music, dancing, riding bikes, playing with friends, spending time with family members, learning how to cook, paying attention to people around them and learning from them. Instead, they're staring at the screen and consuming whatever was picked by the algorithms, which is usually worthless.
Manipulative software has large negative impacts on individuals and society. As a society, we do not yet know the diversity and severity of its effects. Many people do not even realize that software manipulates. The problem will only get worse until one of two things happen:
A) People begin to understand the effects of manipulation by software and develop habits and social mores to reduce harm. This will likely take generations. We can recognize this happening when derogatory terms for app abusers appear, like the terms for drug abusers.
For an analogy, consider the introduction of sugary drinks to indigenous communities in Mexico [1].
B) Society begins to hold companies accountable for manipulation they do via software and hold guardians responsible for exposing children to manipulative software. The proposed California law is the start of this process.
I am partial to your argument, but wish to mitigate it a bit.
> The games had violent content, but they didn't make me violent.
I think these games came in the lines of the war movies a lot of us grew up with, and they took the war/army propaganda aspects and ran with it. The “make people violent” bits were I think partly wish-making on the army side (needs a flattering image) and fear mongering on the puritanism side (needs something to blame)
To your point, “A” started happening, people are now reacting to the desensitization of violence on screen, in books and anywhere really, games or not. I think “A” is also already happening for mobile games that have gambling structures and attention traps.
“B” is the part that takes more time I think. On the violence example, society partly benefited from having people desensitized from violence and I’m not sure we’re seeing significant progress on that part. The same way mobile game companies and social networks are a huge engine of our economies, and having any decent regulation on that will take way more time I think than the cultural shift on “A”.
Just looking at Apple making most of its revenue from in-app purchases, yet enjoying an incredibly high social position is telling I think.
I believe A) is already happening, so the need for B) is decreasing. I hate social media personally, but I don't want it sued to oblivion anymore than I want WOW to be (Also hate MMOs). Just like WOW, I find it best to crash and burn on its own (lack of) merits
The games developed and got more habit-forming, and I spent more and more time on them. I played Counter-Strike online for thousands of hours. Most of those hours were not enjoyable. I lost 6 months of my life to EverQuest, an MMORPG. Never again. Many of my classmates in university played World of Warcraft for 3+ hours every day. Some played it instead of studying and failed out of university.
Now, habit-forming features are integrated into all kinds of software, including apps for children. Puzzle games earn more money than traditional gambling apps [0], mostly from ads. An 8-year-old is no match for a team of PhDs. Given the chance, most children would spend every waking minute using an iPad or phone. The more hours children spend playing games and watching videos, the fewer hours they spend reading books, building things, exercising creativity, making music, dancing, riding bikes, playing with friends, spending time with family members, learning how to cook, paying attention to people around them and learning from them. Instead, they're staring at the screen and consuming whatever was picked by the algorithms, which is usually worthless.
Manipulative software has large negative impacts on individuals and society. As a society, we do not yet know the diversity and severity of its effects. Many people do not even realize that software manipulates. The problem will only get worse until one of two things happen:
A) People begin to understand the effects of manipulation by software and develop habits and social mores to reduce harm. This will likely take generations. We can recognize this happening when derogatory terms for app abusers appear, like the terms for drug abusers.
For an analogy, consider the introduction of sugary drinks to indigenous communities in Mexico [1].
B) Society begins to hold companies accountable for manipulation they do via software and hold guardians responsible for exposing children to manipulative software. The proposed California law is the start of this process.
[0] https://www.blog.udonis.co/mobile-marketing/mobile-games/mob...
[1] https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-soft-drink-invasi...