Our Attention is Being Monetized (And Not By Us)
What the Surgeon General’s Advisory Is Missing About Social Media
Earlier this week, the Surgeon General released a 19-page advisory about the potential dangers of social media for children and teenagers. The report highlighted just a few things, including the link between anxiety/ depression and social media use as well as the dangers to body and self-image (particularly for teen girls) and the risks of extreme content exposure.
For many of us, I suspect that this advisory has been a long time coming. We’ve received countless indicators that the social media system as it currently exists is broken, from tech executives who don’t let their children have smartphones to the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma,
But there was one thing that stood out to me as being completely absent from the Surgeon General’s Advisory: Advertising. In fact, the word “advertise” and “advertising” didn’t show up once.
Why does this matter? Very simply, because social media companies do not actually exist to connect us with family, friends, or long-lost classmates. The original purpose of social media companies, was, of course, to do just that. Those of us who signed up for MySpace and Facebook accounts in their fledgling years didn’t sign up for the reality of social media today; we hoped to do nothing more than share our favorite music and chat with our high-school crush.
But very quickly, social media became about monetization. As early as 2007, just a few years after Facebook’s internet debut, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled “social ads”— which not only advertised on your news feed, but showed you what a Facebook friend of yours had purchased or reviewed, along with an advertiser’s message. Now, even purchases that may never otherwise have been public knowledge are plastered on my friend’s news feed reminding them to “add to cart” to fit in. This wasn’t just advertising— it was advertising with social influence and pressure.
The monetizing of social media companies isn’t just a way for them to cover the costs of their employees and computer servers. In fact, advertising is profitable enough that Hulu recently increased the price of its advertising free tier in a bid to push more people towards the lower-cost tier with advertisements. The reason? Hulu makes far more in advertising revenue than it does from our monthly subscription cost.
The same is true for social media companies— we as customers aren’t paying for Instagram, TikTok, or Reddit— at least with anything but our time. As Netflix’s The Social Dilemma so eloquently put it, if you're not paying for the product, then you are the product. Social media is designed to be intentionally addictive because social media companies are profiting— to the tune of billions of dollars per year— on our attention. Every design feature, from the infinite scroll to Reels and push notifications, is designed to give you a little dopamine hit to keep you coming back.
Shareholder reports and earnings calls make it abundantly clear to investors that monetizing our attention is the goal. The 2022 Q4 earnings call for Meta, for example, highlighted a fundamental shift happening on its feed: “Facebook and Instagram are shifting from being organized solely around people and accounts you follow to increasingly showing more relevant content recommended by our AI systems.”
If I am on Facebook or Instagram with the intention of only following a handful of accounts, Meta is now intentionally inundating my feed with content that I have not had a say in. Using AI to pick so-called “relevant content” actually makes it more difficult for me to find updates on the few accounts I want to hear from, and ensures that I will be wasting more time scrolling through a random stranger’s reels. And the longer you scroll, the more money Facebook makes. Every time you click the “refresh” button. Every time you pick up your phone instead of engaging with the people right in front of you. You might not benefit much from this encounter, but social media companies sure do.
The longer you scroll, the more money Facebook makes. Every time you click the “refresh” button. Every time you pick up your phone instead of engaging with the people right in front of you. You might not benefit much from this encounter, but social media companies sure do.
The rise of social media coincides with a decline of “third spaces”
There has been a notable decline in “third spaces”— that is, places other than work and home that we regularly visit— in recent years. These “third spaces” include everything from the local park or pub to libraries and museums. For adults, the decline of public spaces was particularly true during Covid. For teenagers, however, the assault on public spaces has been years in the making. A handful of phenomena— including helicopter parenting, a substantial decrease in teenage driving rates, and the death of malls as a teenage pastime (both because of the death of malls in general, and because of increased restrictions on “unaccompanied minors” in shopping centers) has coincided to make it much more difficult for teens to be anywhere but school or home.
For many teenagers and adults alike, the internet— specifically, social media— has stepped in to be that “third space.” What this means is that, for millions of teenagers (and adults), the only meaningful way to interact with the world is through a space that exists solely for the monetization of our attention. In this space, we are primarily consumers, not creators. In this space, corporations make money by funneling us into more ‘extreme’ or falsified content. In this space, we matter only for the hours we waste watching TikTok videos and the ad conversion rate we provide. No wonder teenagers are depressed.
Many of the harms of social media to children and teenagers wouldn’t exist without the monetization model.
If social media were just a platform for people to connect with just the handful of people they already know in real life, I don’t think we would be having this conversation. The harms of social media— from TikTok tics to issues with self-esteem and body image— are largely because social media now exists primarily as a place to connect with people you don’t actually know. Social media is built around a culture of chasing “likes” and reliant on an algorithm that inundates your personal feed with ever-more “related” content to keep you engaged— all for more efficient monetization.
The monetization model is what encourages social media companies to create addictive technology. The Surgeon General’s report made it clear that social media use is widespread, with “up to 95% of youth ages 13–17 report using a social media platform, [and] more than a third saying they use social media “almost constantly.” That sure sounds addictive to me.
We are culturally complacent on the issue of social media. Teenagers are, in many ways, the canaries in the coal mines. They are aware of how difficult it is to regulate their own social media use— because this technology is intentionally addictive. (In fact, individuals who spend significant time on social media can exhibit the same changes to brain structure as individuals with a substance or gambling addiction). But they, for as smart and resilient as teenagers are, also see the adults around them engaging nearly constantly with technology. Adults, too, are struggling with same social-media induced anxiety and depression as teenagers— it just hasn’t become obvious enough to warrant the Surgeon General’s attention yet.
Teens who chase “likes” become adults who click “add to cart”
Social media fosters a culture that requires constant validation. If my self-worth is dependent on the number of “likes” on my picture or followers on my profile, then I’m requiring constant validation to maintain my self-image. And that’s exactly what the “like” button does— provides a way to tangibly “calculate” how much validation you are getting for every picture or post and compare it to your neighbor’s.
It’s no secret, of course, that social media doesn’t reflect reality. The house was staged for that photo, the kids were whining seconds before or after the picture, you and your partner had a fight on that vacation… reality is always more messy than the picture makes it appear. But it’s fundamentally different when your point of reference is the neighbor down the street (and, for whatever they have, you know they aren’t perfect) versus an influencer on a screen. The influencer on the screen is being paid to promote a product that encourages you to aspire to their life instead of your own… and, well, that’s how the latest throwaway-trend goes viral.
One thing the Surgeon General’s Advisory illuminated is that frequent social media use can actually cause fundamental changes in the “amygdala (important for emotional learning and behavior) and the prefrontal cortex (important for impulse control, emotional regulation, and moderating social behavior).” Constant exposure to lifestyle advertisements (both in the form of actual product advertisements and influencer-type advertisements) doesn’t just increase the likelihood of you making a particular purchase— it actually alters your brain in ways that encourage you to keep chasing validation. The reason teens chase “likes” is the same reason your neighbor buys the luxury vehicle or your friend goes into debt for an Insta-worthy wedding— validation. And because our culture has equated buying “things” with social status, the teens chasing social approval with Shein hauls and TikTok trends will become adults who seek superficial validation by clicking “add to cart.”
Constant exposure to lifestyle advertisements (both in the form of actual product advertisements and influencer-type advertisements) doesn’t just increase the likelihood of you making a particular purchase— it actually alters your brain in ways that encourage you to keep chasing validation.
That isn’t, of course, to say that there are no benefits to social media: My local Buy Nothing community is the only reason I have a Facebook account, and I’ve received innumerable benefits from following a handful of minimalist and conscious parenting experts on Instagram. But the “optimal” amount of time to be on social media is probably much less than the average 147 minutes (that’s more than two hours!) per day.
The “optimal” amount of time to be on social media is probably much less than the average 147 minutes (that’s more than two hours!) per day.
But in spite of all the evidence, it can be difficult to shift our relationships with social media. If you’re thinking about setting some new boundaries, here are just a few ideas:
Start by checking out your weekly screen time report. But keep in mind that your screen time will also reflect time you spend using Maps, reading Kindle or a digital library app, listening to music, etc.— so dig into the details to figure out just how often you are actually on social media.
Create a morning or evening routine that doesn’t involve social media. Decide that you won’t touch your phone (or that you won’t open Facebook) until after your morning coffee, or after you’ve changed into your PJs. See how you feel after a few days of this— then try incorporating “tech-free” time with your family.
Keep a running list of things you can do on your phone that aren’t social media based. As someone who is frequently “nap-trapped” by a nursing infant, knowing how I can use my phone productively has been a game-changer. For me, that’s most often writing or reading an e-book.
Try unfollowing everyone— you can always search out an individual’s page if you want to find their updates. I did this with all but a few people on Facebook, and it made scrolling so much less interesting.
Be adaptable— know that as social media companies shift their algorithms to show more “related content” (versus content you had a say in following) you may want to set screen-time limits on your phone for particular sites (10 minutes a day is great for letting you check for updates but not scroll— though even that is starting to feel too long for me). You can also commit to checking social media only from a laptop instead of your phone.
My hope is that the Surgeon General’s Advisory is just the beginning of a more robust conversation about the challenges of a social media culture. Have something to add? I’d love to hear from you!