When you’re addicted to something, you’re obviously biased in favour of arguments suggesting it’s unrealistic to quit
Should you delete your social media accounts right now? The title of Jaron Lanier’s excellent recent polemic, Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, leaves no doubt which side he’s on. His view is that Facebook, Twitter and the rest have sucked us into an addictive spiral of outrage, isolation and extremism, while making it ever harder for those who create the culture off which they leech – musicians, artists, journalists – to make a living.
But as this stance grows more popular, so does an objection: for many, it’s impossible. “What #DeleteFacebook tech bros don’t get,” writes the activist Jillian York, is that “leaving is, for many, a luxury they can’t afford”. Like it or not, people now rely on the network to run a business, stay in touch with friends and family, or even maintain their mental health, thanks to online support groups. Telling them to fulfil those needs elsewhere is unrealistic – precisely because everyone else is fulfilling them on Facebook. Being able to walk away is a matter of “privilege”, a Slate essay argues. It’s also another case of lecturing people about the need for self-discipline, when the real problem is capitalism and insufficiently regulated corporations bent on profit.
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