Mindless Scrolling

Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed disapproval for mindless scrolling. Issues like mental health and addiction are deeply associated with gadget uses. Without doubt, responsible gadget makers should address these issues. However, what it takes is likely beyond the realm of gadgets, but into the world of human nature.

For some people, life is simply too boring. Without access to high spirituality like physics or mathematics, they often turn to games, social networks, videos, and of course, politics. Lack of sophistication leads to emotional appeals. Social networks on smartphones created Trump out of people's herd mentality. There is no easy fix. While politicians constantly blame the tech sector for amplifying political opposition, no serious observer can agree that peace would come if tech giants like Facebook were simply broken up. The whole thing is much deeper than shallow politics, and calls for digital civilization to guard against people's negative mentality.

On the other hand, make the Internet less boring. Internet can be a place for unprecedented expression of creativity, rather than endless political bullshit. Take tech blogs for example. Most tech blogs are marketing campaigns for released products and speculation/leaks about unreleased products. They are as boring as user manuals. Instead, there should be more tech blogs exploring the frontiers, and make stuff accessible to most people. Isaac Asimov serves humanity well.

The Internet provided freedom at the cost of proper organization. Despite proliferation of materials, people often can not find their own interests. The problem is lack of proper guidance. A good teacher is hard to find, more so on the Internet. Intelligence and wisdom are useless if access poses great difficulty. There is a need to go beyond search engine and knowledge engine to create a more organized presentation, like Wikipedia, but broader and deeper.

The future of digital civilization needs more Asimov and less Trump.