Jaron Lanier – quite an interesting individual – came up with a new acronym for social media: BUMMER, which means ‘Behaviors of Users Modified and Made into Empires for Rent’. The concept is developed in this interesting (and critical) Medium article ‘Jaron Lanier’s Top 10 List for Quitting Social Media‘.
The concept is that social media sites change our behaviors in a way that is of interest to them, and that their interest is straight financial. The two steps of this approach can be analysed.
Social media does change our behavior, that’s clear: most people just can’t stop looking at their mobile phone, and on the social networks on their mobile phones, and everything is engineering to support that behavior (notifications etc.).
Whether the interest of social media moguls is only financial is more open to debate. It might not have been the initial intention. It may only be a means to another objective. What this objective could be, oscillates between scary (manipulation of the masses) or benevolent (connection people).
I do not believe we should leave social media, because used well, like any tool, it can bring many benefits. But we must develop behavior rules so as not to fall prey to it. And the question is still open about what is really the objective of social media companies.
