Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

by Jaron Lanier

What might once have been called advertising must now be understood as continuous behavior modification on a titanic scale.

And we did it anyway … it literally changes your relationship with society, with each other.… It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.1

The damage to society comes because addiction makes people crazy. The addict gradually loses touch with the real world and real people. When many people are addicted to manipulative schemes, the world gets dark and crazy.

When people get a flattering response in exchange for posting something on social media, they get in the habit of posting more.

Occasionally, pioneers of the gambling world complain about how social media companies ripped off their ideas and made more money,

Some have compared social media to the tobacco industry,5 but I will not. The better analogy is paint that contains lead. When it became undeniable that lead was harmful, no one declared that houses should never be painted again. Instead, after pressure and legislation, lead-free paints became the new standard.6 Smart people simply waited to buy paint until there was a safe version on sale. Similarly, smart people should delete their accounts until nontoxic varieties are available.

What’s really going on is that we see less than ever before of what others are seeing, so we have less opportunity to understand each other.

More recently, Facebook researchers finally acknowledged11 what other researchers have found: that their products can do real harm.

Addiction is associated with anhedonia, the lessened ability to take pleasure from life apart from whatever one is addicted to, and social media addicts appear to be prone to long-term anhedonia.15

Bringing down a society to get rich is a fool’s game, and Silicon Valley is acting foolishly.

Whatever a person might be, if you want to be one, delete your accounts.