LIKE a frenzied, hyperactive AI, news sites these days proliferate with AI news and subjects that pertain to Internet and Kids. Samples: “Uncensored Chatbots Provoke a Fracas Over Free Speech.” / “States’ Push to Protect Kids Online Could Remake the Internet.” / “Echoes of History in New National Push to Shield Children Online.” And so on and so forth.
And then we read these articles: “Almost a Third of High-School Girls Considered Suicide in 2021.” / And “Emergency Room Visits Have Risen Sharply for Young People in Mental Distress, Study Finds.”
So how do we tackle, confront, or work around this “future shock” that is already in our midst? Been reading past issues of business magazines and I am astounded by a flood of new gadgets and apps and related tech thingies that keep on coming. Pre-Covid, budgets of at least 3 Big Tech titans are already higher than at least 10 poor countries: Amazon, $42.74 billion; Alphabet/Google, $27.57 billion; Huawei, $22.04 billion. Apple Inc spent “only” $26.25 billion for R&D last year though.
And so by the time parents and tech and government discuss regulations and stuff, dozens of new comp inventions, AI-boosted or not, are already in the market.
News adds: “A new generation of chatbots doesn’t have many of the guardrails put in place by companies like Google and OpenAI, presenting new possibilities — and risks.” But of course kids are not the only focal point of this “precaution.” There is no way that we could escape from technology; it’s all an individual response.
Other News: “New age restrictions for minors on sites like TikTok and Pornhub could also hinder adults’ access to online services.” Certainly, don’t forget, porn sites were already easily accessed by ten-year olds before AI came to the living room.
HENCE, I concern myself more with personal safeguards. Primal sense. News: “In the 1990s, the U.S. government limited what young people could see online, but lost a court fight challenging those rules. Now it’s happening again.” And I don’t think that challenge will ever stop.
Meanwhile, from 2011 to 2020, the proportion of mental health-related visits to emergency rooms by young people roughly doubled, health experts report. You know as I know. That little gadget has a lot to say about all these. And what’s in there are all our doing. The coming of AI only gives Tech Gods a sure alibi to point blame to.
Complex, isn’t it? Indeed, more complex than what Alvin Toffler warned us in 1970 as “future shock,” or a state of distress or disorientation due to rapid social or technological change. 😒🤖🥹
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