Optimising for Toxicity – How Social Media Thrives on Hate, and How to Break That Pattern. Too Few Kids – the Latest K-Drama, and more!

Grüezi!?I’m Adrian Monck, and welcome to this newsletter featuring seven things that caught my attention this week.

Also this edition – roofs for plants and power, bees at bus stops, and life on LinkedIn.

Sharing is caring –?Please share this newsletter !

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1???Why Social Media Loves To See People Burn

And how to stop it.

Bad behaviour it turns out, is great for social media.*

New research says we love to warm ourselves at the flames when it’s other people burning.

Advertisers may not like it. People targeted may not like it. But the numbers don’t lie.*

In academic language – and for any tweet-happy billionaires tuning in – social media has to strike a balance between being toxic enough to make us look, not so toxic that we look away:

• “From the point of view of profit-maximising sites, two competing forces affect their optimal level of toxicity.
• “On the one hand, for some users, a high prevalence of toxicity could increase their cost of participating in conversations, a worry exacerbated by research documenting the negative psychological effects of exposure to offensive materials.
• “On the other, toxic content is something that we react to, protest, or argue against; thus its presence might spike up engagement.”

Yes, social media sites need to optimise for toxicity! If this sounds like a public policy fail, it probably is.

How to stop it? Germany has some prior experience when it comes to hate speech. It might also have some of the answers :

• Germany’s NetzDG law “allows the government to levy large fines if social media companies do not promptly remove hateful content.
• “The NetzDG reduced both the hatefulness of online discourse and, more importantly, the incidence of anti-minority hate crimes.
• “Content moderation policies can work – despite their trade-offs – at least when it comes to reducing toxicity on social media and its offline consequences.

*BTW Journalists know this. One British newspaper’s nickname? The ‘Daily Hate’.

??No hate here: what went down at COP27 .

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2?? Multi-Generational Korean TV Sagas Could be Toast

Flagging birth rates mean Korea is running out of Koreans.

There’s a long AP read on the biggest K-drama facing the country – Kids. Young Koreans don’t want them.

Here’s Lee So-Young, a population policy expert at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs:

“In a nutshell, people think our country isn’t an easy place to live. They believe their children can’t have better lives than them, and so question why they should bother to have babies.”

What’s holding them back?

• “They cite the uncertainty of a bleak job market, expensive housing, gender and social inequality, low levels of social mobility and the huge expense of raising children in a brutally competitive society.
• “Women also complain of a?persistent patriarchal culture ?that forces them to do much of the childcare while enduring discrimination at work.”

It’s not just a Korean problem. Developed societies around the world are grappling with the reality that young people don’t see a better life for children.

Fixing that is going to require a big social shift.

???Meanwhile in science: debunking quantum physics myths .

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3?? Then: Going Down to the Woods. Now: Going Up to Them

Rooftop forests are becoming a thing.

? Why these are the smartest and most sustainable cities .

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4?? Also Good for Rooftops? Tiny wind turbines!

The chimneys of the 21C! And no Dick van Dykes.

? If there’s no wind, how about miniature nuclear reactors ?

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5?? Stop ‘Confused Anemias’ (7)*

Annoying cross word clues can help your brain stay sharper longer.

*Amnesia

??Life expectancy and healthcare spending in countries around the world .

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6???Buzz Stops. Geddit???

What could be better than waiting at the bus stop with bees? As long as they play nice.

???Also spreading in the UK, as winter nears: warm banks .

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7?? Being on LinkedIn

The power of the network!

???Non-networking reading on our?book club podcast .

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If you enjoy this newsletter – please recommend it!

Best,

Adrian

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