The UK’s in the throes of a General Election and, whether we like it or not, social media is an important part of campaigning for politicians, political parties, and any person or organisation wanting to influence the outcome. Social media is the modern billboard. The Badger’s always been cautious about social media, and he engages with it in moderation. Why? Because his IT career spanned the time from its origin through to its evolution into being dominated by the global, revenue and profit dominated goliaths we have today. He’s learned that it’s a minefield for the unwary, and perilous for those vulnerable to the tsunami of memes, misinformation, disinformation, sales and marketing spin, scams and bile that is regularly delivered. Social media is, of course, here to stay. The Badger, however, overcame any fear of missing out (FOMO) regarding its content many years ago. He thus ignores any content that is election related.
Aside from the UK election, something relevant to social media caught the Badger’s attention this week. It was the USA’s Surgeon General’s call for tobacco-style warnings on the hazards of using social media. This struck a chord because the Badger’s quietly thought for some time that social media is the new tobacco! The Badger hasn’t lost his mind because, as they say, ‘there’s method to the madness’.
Tobacco’s been with us for centuries, see here. Cigarettes evolved in the 1830s, and smoking was a norm for adults across UK society in the 1920s, driven ostensibly by cigarettes being included in First World War military rations and heavy advertising by tobacco companies. Smoking continued to grow, with the highest level for men recorded as 82% in1948. Tobacco companies, of course, grew fast, and became extremely rich and powerful. The health issues associated with tobacco were known long before the 1950s when the evidence of the impact of smoking on public health became incontrovertible. Since then, steps have been taken to eliminate smoking. The tobacco companies have fought to protect their revenues, and tobacco-related legislation only really started changing significantly in the early 2000s.
Doesn’t this progression of a product, mass marketing, widespread public adoption as a norm, the growth of wealthy and powerful companies protecting their product at all costs, eventual public realisation of the product’s damage to society and individual health, followed by long overdue corrective action resonate with what’s happening with social media? The Badger thinks it does. For tobacco, the progression has taken a century or more, but for social media it’s happening over just a few decades. The Badger senses that the Surgeon General’s call for tobacco style warnings has its place, but more needs to be done faster or society and individual health will be in an even bigger pickle at the end of this decade. Just a thought…
