Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Entertainment, Information, and Addiction: Our New Digital, Social World

I went to the LA Times Festival of Books (April 13-14). I'll be posting my notes on the various panel discussions I attended.

The fifth panel discussion I attended was "Entertainment, Information, and Addiction: Our New Digital, Social World."

Here is an edited panelist biography via the LA Times website.

Ali E. Abbas is Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Professor of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. He is also editor of numerous books including "Improving Homeland Security Decisions", and the forthcoming book "Next Generation Ethics."

Dr. Julie Albright is a sociologist specializing in digital culture and communications and is currently a lecturer in the departments of Applied Psychology and Engineering at USC. Her book on the impacts of mobile-social-digital technologies on society, "Left to Their Own Devices: How Digital Natives Are Reshaping the American Dream" was published last year.

David Craig is Clinical Associate Professor at USC Annenberg's School for Communication and Journalism and a Fellow at the Peabody Media Center. His newest book is "Social Media Entertainment: The New Intersection of Hollywood and Silicon Valley."


And the following are my notes from the panel discussion: 

Ali E. Abbas. He looks at the new digital world via the implications on ethics. Social network corporations have an ethical responsibility. They are selling our data and need to be more upfront about this. Corporations also need to be more attuned to what gets posted, fake news. Every technology has unintended consequences. Once you become aware of these consequences, you need to be open about it. For example, live streaming is being used to show criminal activity or suicide attempts.

There is also the idea of ethics vs legal. There is the thought that if it is legal, one isn’t doing anything wrong. One can’t just rely on the legal system. We should consider having a Hippocratic oath for technology. Social networks need to think about the impact to their users. They shouldn’t deceive their users. They need to do the right thing.

Abbas believes that people must learn to be themselves. There could be role models in the social media space. He believes in free speech, but we need a credibility ranking system to deal with fake news.

Julie Albright. This current generation are digital natives. Teens say they’re always online via mobile devices. Babies have iPads affixed above their strollers. They’re acquiring skills like swiping before speaking. We don’t know the impact of this.

Parents are using technology as digital pacifiers. Only 6% of kids play outside now. Also, 93% of adults spend their time inside. There are videos of kids falling out of their school desks, because they don’t have physical balance.

If you write something, you remember better versus keying it in.

Kids compare themselves to other lives and find themselves coming up short. Values are revolving around seeking external likes. They want to be YouTube star -- 75% of them. What happens when they are no longer stars. People used to seek popularity at school. Now this is done at a global level. There is increased pressure.

We do get enlarged social connections. There is an ability to expand your network. You can also garner support: financial support via GoFundMe, social movements such as #metoo and Dakota Pipelines.

Technology is reshaping the notion of time. Expectation of immediacy.

David Craig. All of Hollywood is digital media. Social media is commodifying their community. Communities revolve around shared interest, which is different than the linear world. There is more agency. Also, social media influencers are different from celebrities who have little interaction with their fans. Social media influencers interact with their followers.

Social media allows online communities such as LGBTQ. Stars are coming out for progressive causes. Islam/Muslim creators are examples. In Michigan, a Muslim woman got caught up in a global controversy around religion.

There has always been issues with media on diversity. Creators represent their own diversity, which is a radical break.