Former Execs Say Facebook Is 'Destroying How Society Works'
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SILICON VALLEY (CBSMiami) -- Two former Facebook executives are raising concern about the effect the social media platform they helped create may be having on us.
"The short-term dopamine driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mis-truth," said Chamath Palihapitiya, who used to be in charge of user growth.
Former Facebook president, Sean Parker is also concerned. He admits the initial goal was to get people hooked.
"You're exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology," said Parker. "The inventors, creators, it's me, Mark, it's Kevin Systrom on Instagram, it's all of these people, understood this consciously. And we did it anyway."
Studies show 92% of teens go online daily and 1 in 5 young people regularly wake up in the night to send or check messages on social media, according to the Pew's Journal of Youth Studies.
"We're not suggesting the leaders of tech companies are evil," said Jim Steyer, founder of Common Sense Media. "But they, in many cases, have ignored the consequences of some of the downsides of the innovations they brought to our society."
Facebook issued a statement that says, in part: "We've done a lot of work and research with outside experts and academics to understand the effects of our service on well-being, and we're using it to inform our product development ... as Mark Zuckerberg said on the last earnings call, we are willing to reduce our profitability to make sure the right investments are made."
Written by James Amalino, CBSMiami.