Social Media Regulation

A year ago, I predicted a wave of phone bans and cultural shifts around social media, and Australia is now leading the charge. Their landmark Online Safety Amendment, which went into effect on December 10, 2025, requires major platforms to bar users under 16 or face significant financial penalties. 

While Australia’s move is a massive step, broader phone and social media regulation hasn't quite kept pace with my expectations. I believe the public is starting to view phone addiction through a mental health lens, and the tide is certainly shifting just more slowly than I thought. But that is the nature of change: it rarely moves as fast as we anticipate.
*worth calling out that banning any form of communication, even if it is detrimental to health, is a slippery slope... Instead of sweeping bans, change in the U.S. is more likely to come from evolving social norms, local policies like school phone bans, and cultural shifts that reduce teen social-media use without outright legal prohibition.

I deleted Twitter (I refuse to call it X) from my phone. I found myself spending too much time going down rabbit holes. Now, I'm blissfully in the dark about most stuff. I am no longer the first to know that there is a rare bird flu outbreak in some remote jungle. I just hear about it when I hear about it. I have found that it's a good way to filter the noise – if it matters, I'll hear about it. Until then, whoooooo cares? It's like my approach with email. I don't check it. If someone needs to get ahold of me, they'll find a way (typically WhatsApp or text). It's been about a month, and I don't see myself ever reinstalling it. I think the constant connectivity to bad news takes it toll. There is something really nice about unplugging – I watched the entire Super Bowl without seeing all the Kendrick Lamar dorks rave about his boring ass performance – "NO BRO, YOU DON'T GET IT... IT WAS ALL SYMBOLISM!"

As predicted, this year is gonna be wild.

How wild is it that HER was based in 2025? And now we have Meta filling Instagram and Facebook up with AI bots hoping to increase engagement: 

“We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,” said Connor Hayes, vice president of product for generative AI at Meta. “They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform . . . that’s where we see all of this going,” he added.

I'm at a complete loss as to why real people on Facebook would want to interact with bots... I also think there is something particularly spooky about large corporations creating fake people that can be used to shape and shift public perception. Weren't we all supposed to be in Mark's Metaverse by now? 

Facebook Planning to Flood Platform with AI-Powered Users. 
"We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do."
This shit is so dark on so many levels!

Making “Social” Social Again
Ev Williams announcing “Mozi” – a social app. I'm a big fan of Ev Williams. He built the platform that this blog STILL runs on – blogger! Mozi is designed to let you know when you’re going to be in the same place (city or event) as someone you know. 

Teens learn a new conspiracy theory every week on social media, yet most schools aren’t teaching media literacy
Teens who use social media see conspiracy theories come across their feed at least once per week, according to a new study.

Brain ROT

Phones and social media have been compared to cigarettes in terms of addiction.

I think we'll find out they are MUCH, MUCH worse.

Especially when it comes to brain development.

Children are spending more time online than offline, making it increasingly challenging for them to differentiate between what is real and what is not (we see this in adults, too; remember the Qanon movement?). This cognitive dissonance is leading to more depression and anxiety. 

Although there are a lot of factors here, I think the root cause (in addition to poor parenting) is clear. It's social media.

Social media platforms have been weaponized with algorithms that study habits and vulnerabilities to generate engagement (at all cost). So kids, with their brains not fully developed, spend all day mindlessly scrolling through memes and videos that gradually erode their cognitive abilities, alter their thoughts, and change their behavior. Prolonged exposure to this brain-rotting sensory overload shit distorts their perception of reality and diminishes intelligence. Test scores are waaaaay down, and I think we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg here.

We should have been more concerned when kids were eating Tide Pods or killing each other because of Slender Man. These were warning signs that we all ignored.

***UPDATE***

On June 17, Surgeon general calls for social media warning labels [link]. Nice to see at least something being done... although it might be too little too late.

72 Hours in Vegas

I spent the last 3-nights in Vegas. 72 hours is my absolute max – anything longer seems truly insane. The energy here has always been weird. But a post-COVID Vegas is even weirder. Darker. 

The entire strip feels like you are living within a social media feed that you didn't subscribe to. An endless scroll of advertisements for pleasures you DON'T want. Click nothing. Ever. But even if you don't click, the content just keeps getting served. It's so disorienting.

Bliss

By the end of my 3-days, I had convinced myself that the entire city was one big simulation and that the majority of the people on the strip were merely non-player characters (NPCs) in the game. 

I determined that the simulation must have started somewhere between 2005-2008 because Pauly D from Jersey Shore is a headlining DJ. Chris Angel is still a thing. Taxi Cabs are far easier than getting an Uber. And restaurants are somehow able to serve "steaks" for $5.99. COVID obviously never happened here. 

In other Jersey Shore news... Pauly D's close friend Vinnie is now stripping at Chippendales. Caabs are here!!!