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March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
December 31, 2022, 10:08:58 am NilsFor1611 says: blessings
August 08, 2018, 02:38:10 am suzytr says: Hello, any good churches in the Sacto, CA area, also looking in Reno NV, thanks in advance and God Bless you Smiley
January 29, 2018, 01:21:57 am Christian40 says: It will be interesting to see what happens this year Israel being 70 years as a modern nation may 14 2018
October 17, 2017, 01:25:20 am Christian40 says: It is good to type Mark is here again!  Smiley
October 16, 2017, 03:28:18 am Christian40 says: anyone else thinking that time is accelerating now? it seems im doing days in shorter time now is time being affected in some way?
September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
September 14, 2017, 08:06:04 am Psalm 51:17 says: bro Mark Hunter on YT has some good, edifying stuff too.
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91  General Category / Bible Study / Re: Dispensationalism - WHAT IS the CONTEXT of Rightly Dividing the word of Truth? on: October 08, 2017, 09:41:43 am
Acts 10:36  The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
Act 10:37  That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
Act 10:38  How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.


Romans 10:15  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Ephesians 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
92  General Category / Weather/Earthquakes/Global Science Hoax's / Re: Crazy Weather Headlines! on: October 07, 2017, 10:12:45 pm
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=98332
10/7/17
Breaking: Gas stations running out of gasoline

The NHC now forecasts Hurricane Nate to have max sustained winds of 105 mph by landfall tonight. Surprisingly, there's no long line of evacuees leaving Hurricane Nate in Missouri (should say Mississippi). A number of gas stations have reported to be out of gas.

Reed Timmer @ReedTimmerAccu

Update: gas stations running out of gasoline in Biloxi, MS ahead of strengthening Hurricane #Nate @breakingweather
12:08 PM - Oct 7, 2017
93  General Category / Bible Study / Re: Dispensationalism - WHAT IS the CONTEXT of Rightly Dividing the word of Truth? on: October 07, 2017, 10:07:36 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D56lo80yuNM
94  General Category / Revelation Prophecy / Re: End Times Sorceries And Debautry on: October 07, 2017, 10:03:16 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Oty0FpvUs
95  General Category / General News / Re: The Bizarro World of Liberalism on: October 07, 2017, 10:02:43 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Oty0FpvUs
96  General Category / Evolution is a religion / Re: Is Genesis History? New Film Affirms Truthfulness of Biblical Record on: October 07, 2017, 09:38:15 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6RQpY3qhsU&t=0s
97  General Category / End Times / Re: The Media Driven Race War on: October 07, 2017, 06:13:15 pm
http://truthfeednews.com/well-well-well-look-what-george-soros-is-accused-of-orchestrating/

Well, Well, Well, Look What George Soros is Accused of Orchestrating
Breaking News By Amy Moreno October 6, 2017

A GOP lawmaker is floating the idea that communist billionaire, George Soros, was the figurehead behind the Charlottesville, VA “white Nationalist” rally.

On Thursday, Rep. Paul Gosar suggested that George Soros was the man behind the “White Nationalists” protest, and did so in order to “destroy” President Trump and cause racial chaos.

From Washington Examiner

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., suggested Thursday that George Soros, a major Democratic donor, was behind the August white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that led to clashes with counterprotesters.

A GOP lawmaker is floating the idea that communist billionaire, George Soros, was the figurehead behind the Charlottesville, VA “white Nationalist” rally.

On Thursday, Rep. Paul Gosar suggested that George Soros was the man behind the “White Nationalists” protest, and did so in order to “destroy” President Trump and cause racial chaos.

From Washington Examiner

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., suggested Thursday that George Soros, a major Democratic donor, was behind the August white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that led to clashes with counterprotesters.

In an interview with Vice News, Gosar initially said the Unite the Right rally may have been orchestrated by the political Left, a claim he said was supported by the fact the event’s organizer, Jason Kessler, previously supported former President Barack Obama and attended an Occupy Wall Street rally.

“Let’s look at the person that actually started the rally,” Gosar told Vice News. “It’s come to our attention that this is a person from Occupy Wall Street that was an Obama sympathizer. So, wait a minute, be careful where you start taking these people to. And look at the background.”

The Arizona Republican then said Soros, who funds numerous liberal organizations, backs people like Kessler.

“You know George Soros is one of those people that actually helps back these individuals,” Gosar said. “Who is he? I think he’s from Hungary. I think he was Jewish. And I think he turned in his own people to the Nazis. Better be careful where we go with those.”

When asked if he believes Soros funded the white nationalists, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis who rallied in Charlottesville in August, Gosar said, “wouldn’t it be interesting to find out?”

A spokesperson for Soros’ Open Society Foundations disputed Gosar’s claims and said they are an insult to him and his family.

“George Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary, and he has spent his life supporting efforts to ensure that such terrifying authoritarianism never takes root again. He was 14 years old when the war ended. He did not collaborate with the Nazis. He did not help round up people. He did not confiscate anybody’s property,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Such baseless allegations are insulting to the victims of the Holocaust, to all Jewish people, and to anyone who honors the truth. It is an affront to Mr. Soros and his family, who against the odds managed to survive one of the darkest moments in our history.

“He abhors violence in any form and has never funded it. Never has. Never will,” the spokesperson added.

After counterdemonstrators clashed with white nationalist groups in Charlottesville, conspiracy theories emerged suggesting Soros may have behind the rally, which they believe was organized by an “Obama sympathizer.”

Kessler told Snopes he voted for Obama and was interested in Occupy Wall Street’s stance against globalism. He also said he attended a demonstration of Occupy Charlottesville.

But the organizer of the Unite the Right rally said his political positions began to change during Obama’s second term.

Alex Jones, founder of InfoWars, has pushed the theory that Soros had a hand in the Charlottesville rally.
98  General Category / End Times / Re: Just pure evil... on: October 07, 2017, 06:08:44 pm
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=98325
10/7/17

Breaking: California just made it easier to infect other people

California has become the first state to officially outlaw the instinct for self-preservation. If someone knowingly infects someone else with HIV, it's no longer a crime in the state. According to the L.A. Times, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Friday that lowers from a felony to a misdemeanor the crime of knowingly exposing a sexual partner to HIV without disclosing the infection. "The measure also applies to those who give blood without telling the blood bank that they are HIV-positive."

99  General Category / Hollywood / Re: Hollywood's War On God on: October 07, 2017, 05:58:38 pm
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=98204
Breaking!! They Just Suspended Him!!!
10/6/17

The Associated Press

@AP

BREAKING: Source: Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein will be suspended from company pending investigation of sex harassment claims.
5:44 PM - Oct 6, 2017
100  General Category / End Times / Re: The Media Driven Race War on: October 07, 2017, 05:54:37 pm
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=98262
Berkeley had it coming: Students now protesting exam

10/7/17

Berkeley students protest exam, accuse their professors of privilege and White Supremacy. We would feel bad for the professor in this video, but they brought this on themselves. Their ideas created the monsters.

The Columbia Bugle @ColumbiaBugle

UC Berkeley is a mess.

Berkeley students protest exam, accuse their professors of privilege and White Supremacy. #FridayFeeling
101  General Category / Weather/Earthquakes/Global Science Hoax's / Re: Crazy Weather Headlines! on: October 07, 2017, 05:50:31 pm
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=98266
10/7/17
Breaking: Hurricane Nate Has Just Changed!!!

 Breaking911

@Breaking911

BREAKING NEWS: #Nate Strengthens To A Category 1 Hurricane As It Barrels Towards The Gulf Coast
10:35 PM - Oct 6, 2017
102  General Category / Current Events / Re: Rooftop Sniper Stephen Paddock Kills 50+, Wounds 200+ In Worst Mass Slaughter In on: October 07, 2017, 05:47:07 pm
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=98213
10/7/17

BREAKING: They Figured Out Who The Mystery Woman Was With Vegas Shooter!


The mystery woman with the Las Vegas shooter was a prostitute.

From The NY Post:

The mystery woman seen with Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock days before the massacre has been identified, at least by profession — she’s a prostitute.

Investigators have not revealed the woman’s name, but told ABC News that she was a ****.

Officials have yet to uncover Paddock’s motive in carting 24 weapons and thousands of rounds of ammo in suitcases into his suite at the Mandalay Bay last weekend.

Firing from his windows, he claimed nearly 60 lives and injured some 500 others at an outdoor concert Sunday night.
103  General Category / General News / Re: The Bizarro World of Liberalism on: October 07, 2017, 05:43:55 pm
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=98215
Breaking: Christians Were Just Kicked Out Of Gay Coffee Shop!!!
10/7/17

In a surprising turn of events, a group of Christian activists have been kicked out of a coffe shop owned by a gay owner.

Washington Times reported: A Christian pro-life group that was recently ejected from a Seattle coffee shop over its local activism is attracting hundreds of thousands of Facebook views after footage of the encounter was posted online.

Members of Abolish Human Abortion recently decided to order drinks in Seattle’s Bedlam coffee shop after posting and distributing pro-life pamphlets in the local community. Activists who joined Caleb Head and Caytie Davis on Oct. 1 were soon berated and told the leave when they were identified.

“I’m gay. You have to leave,” owner Ben Borgman said in the video.
104  General Category / North America / Re: Watch California on: October 07, 2017, 05:36:41 pm
http://truthfeednews.com/cali-gov-jerry-brown-forbids-landlords-to-assist-ice-in-deporting-illegals/

Cali Gov Jerry Brown FORBIDS Landlords to Assist ICE in Deporting Illegals
Breaking News By Amy Moreno October 7, 2017

Imagine how GREAT California would be if officials cared as much about Americans as they do about illegals.

Instead of being a flourishing state, California is a cesspool of crime and bankruptcy, but the liberal moonbat governor continues doubling down on his love and support of illegals.

Now that California is a officially a “sanctuary state,” Governor Brown is FORBIDDING landlords from cooperating with ICE to deport illegals.

From Breitbart

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a pair of new laws Thursday designed to protect illegal alien tenants from being threatened with deportation by making it illegal for landlords to report a tenant’s immigration status to Immigrations Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The bills were part of a package of laws pushed by the Democrat majority and signed by Brown ostensibly to protect illegal aliens from any increased enforcement measures under theTrump administration.

According to the Los Angeles Times,

One proposal by Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) would bar landlords from disclosing information about immigration status in order to intimidate, harass or evict tenants without following proper procedures. It also would allow immigrant tenants to file civil claims against their landlords if they do.

Another bill by Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon (D-Whittier) would ensure that no state office or entity in California could compel a landlord to obtain and disclose information on a tenant’s immigration status.

The rationale behind the latest package of bills protecting illegal aliens, according to the Sacramento Bee, is fear of enforcement by ICE under President Trump, and fear that unscrupulous landlords might use a tenant’s illegal status to harass, intimidate or abuse them.

Chiu argues that tenants should not have to “live in fear” because they’re immigrants or refugees. He cited the legal uncertainty over young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally but have been educated here and hold down jobs as one of several reasons for the legislation.

“Trump’s escalating war on immigrants is ripping apart families and mass deportations could be our new reality,” Chiu said recently.

“This bill will deter the small minority of landlords who unscrupulously take advantage of the real or perceived immigration status of their tenants to engage in abusive acts.”

With the package of bills signed into law Thursday—including SB54 making California a “Sanctuary State” for criminal aliens—California Democrats have kept their word to put the interests of illegal aliens first, ahead of legal, law-abiding California citizens.
105  General Category / War On Family / Re: Global push for same-sex marriage on: October 07, 2017, 05:31:40 pm
http://www.msn.com/en-za/news/world/germany-prepares-for-first-gay-marriage/ar-AAsEMGZ
Germany prepares for first gay marriage
9/30/17

Karl Kreile and Bodo Mende – two civil servants from Berlin – are set to become the first gay couple to marry in Germany on Sunday after parliament voted in June to allow lesbian and gay couples to marry and adopt children.

Same-sex couples in Germany have been able to register civil partnerships since 2001, but it was not until parliament voted for marriage equality earlier this year that full marriage equality was enacted. With that move, various differences between civil partnerships and marriage – principally that same-sex couples were not able to adopt children together - were finally erased.

Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to let parliament hold a free vote on same-sex marriages in June. While she voted against the move, a majority of MPs backed it, making Germany the 14th country in Europe and the 23rd worldwide to allow same-sex couples to marry.

According to 2015 figures, some 94,000 same-sex couples live together in the country, with 43,000 in registered civil partnerships.

Kriele, 59, and Bodo, 60, have been at the forefront of campaigning for gay rights in Germany since meeting in 1979 in what was then West Berlin.

"This is an emotional moment with great symbolism," Kriele said. "The transition to the term 'marriage' shows that the German state recognizes us as real equals."

Joerg Steinert, who heads the Berlin branch of Germany's lesbian and gay association (LSVD) said being able to marry will have benefits for same-sex couples, including the right to adopt children. The first such adoption is expected to take place in Berlin on October 4, he said.

Some local authorities in Germany have enthusiastically embraced the prospect of same-sex marriages, even deciding to open their registry offices on a Sunday to conduct and celebrate the first gay and lesbian weddings.

Among them are the northern city of Hamburg and the Berlin district of Schöneberg, which has been the center of gay life in the German capital for more than a century.
106  General Category / ISLAM: Religion of peace ? / Re: The Islamic Apocalypse!! on: October 07, 2017, 05:29:50 pm
http://truthfeednews.com/breaking-london-under-attack/

BREAKING: London Under ATTACK!

Breaking News By Amy Moreno October 7, 2017

There’s been yet another attack in London.

This time a car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians outside of London’s famous “Natural History Musem.”

This story is developing.

Several people are injured after a car mounted the pavement outside the Natural History Museum in London.

A man has been arrested at the scene after several pedestrians were mowed down by a vehicle.

He was pinned to the ground by police in front of stunned tourists shortly after 2.20pm this afternoon.

One shocked onlooker wrote on Twitter: ‘Just witnessed a car drive into people in London. Safe for now please message your friends if they’re here near the national museum.’

Another user posted: ‘Looks like a guy tried to mow people down at the natural history museum.’
107  General Category / Current Events / Re: Politicians respond to Connecticut school shooting on: October 07, 2017, 05:26:09 pm
http://truthfeednews.com/lol-new-york-times-calls-for-repeal-of-2nd-amendment/
New York Times Calls for REPEAL of 2nd Amendment
Breaking News By Amy Moreno October 7, 2017

Liberals continue to lose their mind over gun control and the 2nd Amendment.

They have no problem with 50 blacks being slaughtered every weekend in Chicago, but as soon as a “mass shooting” happens, they want the 2nd Amendment repealed.

A so-called “conservative” writer at the New York Times (ha ha ha) is calling for the repeal.

Keep dreaming, bozos.

Conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens called for a repeal of the Second Amendment in a Thursday op-ed, arguing that while gun ownership shouldn’t be outlawed, “it doesn’t need a blanket Constitutional protection, either.”

Stephens’s op-ed comes in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, when a gunman opened fire on an outdoor concert in Las Vegas on Sunday, killing at least 58 people.

“I have never understood the conservative fetish for the Second Amendment,” Stephens, who is also an MSNBC contributor, writes.

more
108  General Category / North America / Re: NFL Anthem Protests...Hegelian Dialectic to Usher in Legalized Sports Gambling? on: October 07, 2017, 02:41:46 pm
http://truthfeednews.com/its-official-the-nfl-is-the-most-unpopular-sport-in-america/

IT’S OFFICIAL! The NFL is the Most Unpopular Sport in America
Culture By Eren Moreno October 7, 2017

According to a new poll, the NFL has gone from America’s number one sport to the least liked of top professional and college sports.

This is all thanks to NFL players, coaches, and owners constantly protesting the National Anthem, despite their fans telling the league to protest on their own time.

From the Washington Examiner

From the end of August to the end of September, the favorable ratings for the NFL have dropped from 57 percent to 44 percent, and it has the highest unfavorable rating — 40 percent — of any big sport, according to the Winston Group survey provided exclusively to Secrets.

Worse for football, which was already seeing lower TV ratings and empty stadium seats, the month of protests and complaints about them from President Trump drove core fans, men 34-54, away, the most significant indicator that NFL brass aren’t in touch with their base.

The Winston Poll from the Washington-based Winston Group found that the attitude of those fans went from an August rating of 73 percent favorable and 19 percent unfavorable to 42 percent favorable and 47 percent unfavorable, a remarkable turn against the sport.

According to the poll analysis, “more critically for the NFL, the fall off in favorables occurred among important audiences. Among males, NFL favorables fell 23 percent, going from 68 percent to 45 percent. In looking at a more specific audience, males 34-54, NFL favorables fell 31 percent, going from 73 percent to 42 percent. Among this group the NFL has a surprising negative image, as it went from +54 percent in August to -5 percent in September.”

The Winston Poll was of brand images for the NFL, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and college football and basketball. It was of 1,000 registered voters and taken August 29-30 and then again September 28-29.

In August, baseball had the highest favorables, just a few points above the NFL.
109  General Category / North America / Re: NFL Anthem Protests...Hegelian Dialectic to Usher in Legalized Sports Gambling? on: October 07, 2017, 02:39:37 pm
http://truthfeednews.com/nfl-partners-with-george-soros-to-bring-down-trump/

NFL Partners With George Soros to BRING DOWN Trump
Breaking News By Amy Moreno October 7, 2017

The NFL is partnering with George Soros to take down President Trump.

Suddenly all of the politicization, hate, and anti-Americanism makes sense.

A report revealing tax records shows the money trail between the players union and communist George Soros.

If you’re wondering why the National Football League has not cracked down on unpatriotic players protesting the national anthem, all you have to do is follow the money.

Tax records show the NFL players union is in cahoots with anti-American leftist billionaire George Soros.

The NFLPA (National Football League Players Association) donated money to the Soros-funded Center for Community Change Action, a left-wing activist group that bankrolls anti-Trump protests, according to tax documents released by 2ndVote.

“The NFLPA has financially supported at least two more left-wing, anti-Trump activist groups,” 2ndVote reported.  Not surprisingly, the NFLPA union has defended football players’ rights to disrespect the national anthem at NFL games.

While most football fans probably thought the NFL was a nonpartisan organization, its labor union has been quietly donating money to leftist political causes for years.

As BizPac Review has reported, numerous corporate giants such as cereal maker Kellogg’s have donated millions to leftist political causes sponsored by the Center for Community Change Action (CCCA).

George Soros’ Open Society Foundation— whose goal is a borderless world resembling anarchy — is a major donor to CCCA, as is the NFL players union.
110  General Category / War On Family / Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world on: October 06, 2017, 11:31:44 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC2p99b0Ho8

111  General Category / Audio Section, Scott Johnson, Bryan Denlinger, others... / Re: Pastor James W Knox on: October 06, 2017, 11:10:02 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao0iXZ23LDM
112  General Category / Revelation Prophecy / Re: Visible, Local NT Church Biblically Defended! VIRTUAL "Church" Debunked! on: October 06, 2017, 11:09:26 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao0iXZ23LDM
113  General Category / Bible Study / Re: Dispensationalism - WHAT IS the CONTEXT of Rightly Dividing the word of Truth? on: October 06, 2017, 11:04:58 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao0iXZ23LDM
114  General Category / Bible Study / Re: Studying the Trinity Is an Exercise in Love on: October 06, 2017, 11:04:29 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao0iXZ23LDM
115  General Category / Current Events / Re: Rooftop Sniper Stephen Paddock Kills 50+, Wounds 200+ In Worst Mass Slaughter In on: October 06, 2017, 08:29:49 pm
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=98181
10/6/17
Breaking! More information revealed about Vegas shooter! A second person in the room!!!

Please share and comment.

Questions are being raised now that it's being reported a key card was used in the room during a time that the shooter's vehicle was not there. Could another person have had the room key?

Fox News

@FoxNews

NBC: Sources say somebody used hotel room key card while gunman's car wasn't in the garage.
2:46 PM - Oct 6, 2017

116  General Category / Gospel of Jesus Christ / 2nd Timothy 2:16 on: October 06, 2017, 06:59:55 pm
2 Timothy 2:16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.


I see this idom being spewed even on Christian fellowship forums. As Christians, yes, we REALLY need to watch our tongues, b/c the lost world IS watching us closely!

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/have+a+cow

have a cow
To get very upset about something, often more than is expected or warranted. Jeez, I'll pay for the damage. Don't have a cow! My mother will have a cow if we get a stain on the new sofa.

have a cow AMERICAN, INFORMAL
If you have a cow, you become very upset or angry. He'll have a cow if he ever finds out!

have a cow
Slang To become amazed, angered, or upset: He had a cow when he saw the mess we made.
117  General Category / Police State/NWO / Re: America Is Being Systematically Transformed Into A Totalitarian Society on: October 06, 2017, 06:29:17 pm
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/man-created-facebook-like-button-now-warns-mind-can-hijacked-social-media/
Man Who Created The Facebook ‘Like’ Button Now Warns Your Mind Can Be ‘Hijacked’ Through Social Media
In 2007, Rosenstein was one of a small group of Facebook employees who decided to create a path of least resistance – a single click – to “send little bits of positivity” across the platform. Facebook’s “like” feature was, Rosenstein says, “wildly” successful: engagement soared as people enjoyed the short-term boost they got from giving or receiving social affirmation, while Facebook harvested valuable data about the preferences of users that could be sold to advertisers. The idea was soon copied by Twitter, with its heart-shaped “likes” (previously star-shaped “favourites”), Instagram, and countless other apps and websites.

10/6/17

Justin Rosenstein had tweaked his laptop’s operating system to block Reddit, banned himself from Snapchat, which he compares to heroin, and imposed limits on his use of Facebook. But even that wasn’t enough.

“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s very interesting to understand that the very people who created the highly-addictive ‘like’ system have now installed extensions on their devices to block those same features from being active. What does that tell you about how enslaving social media can be? Just imagine how it will be in a few years when AI is fully rolled out, and the devices are doing our thinking for us. The “brave new world’ is a very scary place to be, and I honestly don’t think any of us really know what we’re playing with.

In August, the 34-year-old tech executive took a more radical step to restrict his use of social media and other addictive technologies. Rosenstein purchased a new iPhone and instructed his assistant to set up a parental-control feature to prevent him from downloading any apps.

He was particularly aware of the allure of Facebook “likes”, which he describes as “bright dings of pseudo-pleasure” that can be as hollow as they are seductive. And Rosenstein should know: he was the Facebook engineer who created the “like” button in the first place.

A decade after he stayed up all night coding a prototype of what was then called an “awesome” button, Rosenstein belongs to a small but growing band of Silicon Valley heretics who complain about the rise of the so-called “attention economy”: an internet shaped around the demands of an advertising economy.

These refuseniks are rarely founders or chief executives, who have little incentive to deviate from the mantra that their companies are making the world a better place. Instead, they tend to have worked a rung or two down the corporate ladder: designers, engineers and product managers who, like Rosenstein, several years ago put in place the building blocks of a digital world from which they are now trying to disentangle themselves. “It is very common,” Rosenstein says, “for humans to develop things with the best of intentions and for them to have unintended, negative consequences.”

Rosenstein, who also helped create Gchat during a stint at Google, and now leads a San Francisco-based company that improves office productivity, appears most concerned about the psychological effects on people who, research shows, touch, swipe or tap their phone 2,617 times a day.

There is growing concern that as well as addicting users, technology is contributing toward so-called “continuous partial attention”, severely limiting people’s ability to focus, and possibly lowering IQ. One recent study showed that the mere presence of smartphones damages cognitive capacity – even when the device is turned off. “Everyone is distracted,” Rosenstein says. “All of the time.”
But those concerns are trivial compared with the devastating impact upon the political system that some of Rosenstein’s peers believe can be attributed to the rise of social media and the attention-based market that drives it.

Drawing a straight line between addiction to social media and political earthquakes like Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, they contend that digital forces have completely upended the political system and, left unchecked, could even render democracy as we know it obsolete.

In 2007, Rosenstein was one of a small group of Facebook employees who decided to create a path of least resistance – a single click – to “send little bits of positivity” across the platform. Facebook’s “like” feature was, Rosenstein says, “wildly” successful: engagement soared as people enjoyed the short-term boost they got from giving or receiving social affirmation, while Facebook harvested valuable data about the preferences of users that could be sold to advertisers. The idea was soon copied by Twitter, with its heart-shaped “likes” (previously star-shaped “favourites”), Instagram, and countless other apps and websites.

It was Rosenstein’s colleague, Leah Pearlman, then a product manager at Facebook and on the team that created the Facebook “like”, who announced the feature in a 2009 blogpost. Now 35 and an illustrator, Pearlman confirmed via email that she, too, has grown disaffected with Facebook “likes” and other addictive feedback loops. She has installed a web browser plug-in to eradicate her Facebook news feed, and hired a social media manager to monitor her Facebook page so that she doesn’t have to.

“One reason I think it is particularly important for us to talk about this now is that we may be the last generation that can remember life before,” Rosenstein says. It may or may not be relevant that Rosenstein, Pearlman and most of the tech insiders questioning today’s attention economy are in their 30s, members of the last generation that can remember a world in which telephones were plugged into walls.

It is revealing that many of these younger technologists are weaning themselves off their own products, sending their children to elite Silicon Valley schools where iPhones, iPads and even laptops are banned. They appear to be abiding by a Biggie Smalls lyric from their own youth about the perils of dealing crack ****: never get high on your own supply.

One morning in April this year, designers, programmers and tech entrepreneurs from across the world gathered at a conference centre on the shore of the San Francisco Bay. They had each paid up to $1,700 to learn how to manipulate people into habitual use of their products, on a course curated by conference organiser Nir Eyal.

Eyal, 39, the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, has spent several years consulting for the tech industry, teaching techniques he developed by closely studying how the Silicon Valley giants operate.

“The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addictions,” Eyal writes. “It’s the impulse to check a message notification. It’s the pull to visit YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter for just a few minutes, only to find yourself still tapping and scrolling an hour later.” None of this is an accident, he writes. It is all “just as their designers intended”.

He explains the subtle psychological tricks that can be used to make people develop habits, such as varying the rewards people receive to create “a craving”, or exploiting negative emotions that can act as “triggers”. “Feelings of boredom, loneliness, frustration, confusion and indecisiveness often instigate a slight pain or irritation and prompt an almost instantaneous and often mindless action to quell the negative sensation,” Eyal writes.
facebook-like-button-creator-says-highly-addictive-warns-social-media-banned

Less than 5 minutes after posting this story on social media, Facebook banned me for 6 days in retaliation for daring to expose them.

Attendees of the 2017 Habit Summit might have been surprised when Eyal walked on stage to announce that this year’s keynote speech was about “something a little different”. He wanted to address the growing concern that technological manipulation was somehow harmful or immoral. He told his audience that they should be careful not to abuse persuasive design, and wary of crossing a line into coercion.

But he was defensive of the techniques he teaches, and dismissive of those who compare tech addiction to drugs. “We’re not freebasing Facebook and injecting Instagram here,” he said. He flashed up a slide of a shelf filled with sugary baked goods. “Just as we shouldn’t blame the baker for making such delicious treats, we can’t blame tech makers for making their products so good we want to use them,” he said. “Of course that’s what tech companies will do. And frankly: do we want it any other way?”

Without irony, Eyal finished his talk with some personal tips for resisting the lure of technology. He told his audience he uses a Chrome extension, called DF YouTube, “which scrubs out a lot of those external triggers” he writes about in his book, and recommended an app called Pocket Points that “rewards you for staying off your phone when you need to focus”.

Finally, Eyal confided the lengths he goes to protect his own family. He has installed in his house an outlet timer connected to a router that cuts off access to the internet at a set time every day. “The idea is to remember that we are not powerless,” he said. “We are in control.”

But are we? If the people who built these technologies are taking such radical steps to wean themselves free, can the rest of us reasonably be expected to exercise our free will?

Not according to Tristan Harris, a 33-year-old former Google employee turned vocal critic of the tech industry. “All of us are jacked into this system,” he says. “All of our minds can be hijacked. Our choices are not as free as we think they are.” source
118  General Category / End Times / Re: "For when they shall say, Peace and safety..." on: October 06, 2017, 06:28:47 pm
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/man-created-facebook-like-button-now-warns-mind-can-hijacked-social-media/
Man Who Created The Facebook ‘Like’ Button Now Warns Your Mind Can Be ‘Hijacked’ Through Social Media
In 2007, Rosenstein was one of a small group of Facebook employees who decided to create a path of least resistance – a single click – to “send little bits of positivity” across the platform. Facebook’s “like” feature was, Rosenstein says, “wildly” successful: engagement soared as people enjoyed the short-term boost they got from giving or receiving social affirmation, while Facebook harvested valuable data about the preferences of users that could be sold to advertisers. The idea was soon copied by Twitter, with its heart-shaped “likes” (previously star-shaped “favourites”), Instagram, and countless other apps and websites.

10/6/17

Justin Rosenstein had tweaked his laptop’s operating system to block Reddit, banned himself from Snapchat, which he compares to heroin, and imposed limits on his use of Facebook. But even that wasn’t enough.

“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s very interesting to understand that the very people who created the highly-addictive ‘like’ system have now installed extensions on their devices to block those same features from being active. What does that tell you about how enslaving social media can be? Just imagine how it will be in a few years when AI is fully rolled out, and the devices are doing our thinking for us. The “brave new world’ is a very scary place to be, and I honestly don’t think any of us really know what we’re playing with.

In August, the 34-year-old tech executive took a more radical step to restrict his use of social media and other addictive technologies. Rosenstein purchased a new iPhone and instructed his assistant to set up a parental-control feature to prevent him from downloading any apps.

He was particularly aware of the allure of Facebook “likes”, which he describes as “bright dings of pseudo-pleasure” that can be as hollow as they are seductive. And Rosenstein should know: he was the Facebook engineer who created the “like” button in the first place.

A decade after he stayed up all night coding a prototype of what was then called an “awesome” button, Rosenstein belongs to a small but growing band of Silicon Valley heretics who complain about the rise of the so-called “attention economy”: an internet shaped around the demands of an advertising economy.

These refuseniks are rarely founders or chief executives, who have little incentive to deviate from the mantra that their companies are making the world a better place. Instead, they tend to have worked a rung or two down the corporate ladder: designers, engineers and product managers who, like Rosenstein, several years ago put in place the building blocks of a digital world from which they are now trying to disentangle themselves. “It is very common,” Rosenstein says, “for humans to develop things with the best of intentions and for them to have unintended, negative consequences.”

Rosenstein, who also helped create Gchat during a stint at Google, and now leads a San Francisco-based company that improves office productivity, appears most concerned about the psychological effects on people who, research shows, touch, swipe or tap their phone 2,617 times a day.

There is growing concern that as well as addicting users, technology is contributing toward so-called “continuous partial attention”, severely limiting people’s ability to focus, and possibly lowering IQ. One recent study showed that the mere presence of smartphones damages cognitive capacity – even when the device is turned off. “Everyone is distracted,” Rosenstein says. “All of the time.”
But those concerns are trivial compared with the devastating impact upon the political system that some of Rosenstein’s peers believe can be attributed to the rise of social media and the attention-based market that drives it.

Drawing a straight line between addiction to social media and political earthquakes like Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, they contend that digital forces have completely upended the political system and, left unchecked, could even render democracy as we know it obsolete.

In 2007, Rosenstein was one of a small group of Facebook employees who decided to create a path of least resistance – a single click – to “send little bits of positivity” across the platform. Facebook’s “like” feature was, Rosenstein says, “wildly” successful: engagement soared as people enjoyed the short-term boost they got from giving or receiving social affirmation, while Facebook harvested valuable data about the preferences of users that could be sold to advertisers. The idea was soon copied by Twitter, with its heart-shaped “likes” (previously star-shaped “favourites”), Instagram, and countless other apps and websites.

It was Rosenstein’s colleague, Leah Pearlman, then a product manager at Facebook and on the team that created the Facebook “like”, who announced the feature in a 2009 blogpost. Now 35 and an illustrator, Pearlman confirmed via email that she, too, has grown disaffected with Facebook “likes” and other addictive feedback loops. She has installed a web browser plug-in to eradicate her Facebook news feed, and hired a social media manager to monitor her Facebook page so that she doesn’t have to.

“One reason I think it is particularly important for us to talk about this now is that we may be the last generation that can remember life before,” Rosenstein says. It may or may not be relevant that Rosenstein, Pearlman and most of the tech insiders questioning today’s attention economy are in their 30s, members of the last generation that can remember a world in which telephones were plugged into walls.

It is revealing that many of these younger technologists are weaning themselves off their own products, sending their children to elite Silicon Valley schools where iPhones, iPads and even laptops are banned. They appear to be abiding by a Biggie Smalls lyric from their own youth about the perils of dealing crack ****: never get high on your own supply.

One morning in April this year, designers, programmers and tech entrepreneurs from across the world gathered at a conference centre on the shore of the San Francisco Bay. They had each paid up to $1,700 to learn how to manipulate people into habitual use of their products, on a course curated by conference organiser Nir Eyal.

Eyal, 39, the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, has spent several years consulting for the tech industry, teaching techniques he developed by closely studying how the Silicon Valley giants operate.

“The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addictions,” Eyal writes. “It’s the impulse to check a message notification. It’s the pull to visit YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter for just a few minutes, only to find yourself still tapping and scrolling an hour later.” None of this is an accident, he writes. It is all “just as their designers intended”.

He explains the subtle psychological tricks that can be used to make people develop habits, such as varying the rewards people receive to create “a craving”, or exploiting negative emotions that can act as “triggers”. “Feelings of boredom, loneliness, frustration, confusion and indecisiveness often instigate a slight pain or irritation and prompt an almost instantaneous and often mindless action to quell the negative sensation,” Eyal writes.
facebook-like-button-creator-says-highly-addictive-warns-social-media-banned

Less than 5 minutes after posting this story on social media, Facebook banned me for 6 days in retaliation for daring to expose them.

Attendees of the 2017 Habit Summit might have been surprised when Eyal walked on stage to announce that this year’s keynote speech was about “something a little different”. He wanted to address the growing concern that technological manipulation was somehow harmful or immoral. He told his audience that they should be careful not to abuse persuasive design, and wary of crossing a line into coercion.

But he was defensive of the techniques he teaches, and dismissive of those who compare tech addiction to drugs. “We’re not freebasing Facebook and injecting Instagram here,” he said. He flashed up a slide of a shelf filled with sugary baked goods. “Just as we shouldn’t blame the baker for making such delicious treats, we can’t blame tech makers for making their products so good we want to use them,” he said. “Of course that’s what tech companies will do. And frankly: do we want it any other way?”

Without irony, Eyal finished his talk with some personal tips for resisting the lure of technology. He told his audience he uses a Chrome extension, called DF YouTube, “which scrubs out a lot of those external triggers” he writes about in his book, and recommended an app called Pocket Points that “rewards you for staying off your phone when you need to focus”.

Finally, Eyal confided the lengths he goes to protect his own family. He has installed in his house an outlet timer connected to a router that cuts off access to the internet at a set time every day. “The idea is to remember that we are not powerless,” he said. “We are in control.”

But are we? If the people who built these technologies are taking such radical steps to wean themselves free, can the rest of us reasonably be expected to exercise our free will?

Not according to Tristan Harris, a 33-year-old former Google employee turned vocal critic of the tech industry. “All of us are jacked into this system,” he says. “All of our minds can be hijacked. Our choices are not as free as we think they are.” source
119  General Category / Technology / Re: Internet Only - No More Cable TV? on: October 06, 2017, 06:27:43 pm
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/man-created-facebook-like-button-now-warns-mind-can-hijacked-social-media/
Man Who Created The Facebook ‘Like’ Button Now Warns Your Mind Can Be ‘Hijacked’ Through Social Media
In 2007, Rosenstein was one of a small group of Facebook employees who decided to create a path of least resistance – a single click – to “send little bits of positivity” across the platform. Facebook’s “like” feature was, Rosenstein says, “wildly” successful: engagement soared as people enjoyed the short-term boost they got from giving or receiving social affirmation, while Facebook harvested valuable data about the preferences of users that could be sold to advertisers. The idea was soon copied by Twitter, with its heart-shaped “likes” (previously star-shaped “favourites”), Instagram, and countless other apps and websites.

10/6/17

Justin Rosenstein had tweaked his laptop’s operating system to block Reddit, banned himself from Snapchat, which he compares to heroin, and imposed limits on his use of Facebook. But even that wasn’t enough.

“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s very interesting to understand that the very people who created the highly-addictive ‘like’ system have now installed extensions on their devices to block those same features from being active. What does that tell you about how enslaving social media can be? Just imagine how it will be in a few years when AI is fully rolled out, and the devices are doing our thinking for us. The “brave new world’ is a very scary place to be, and I honestly don’t think any of us really know what we’re playing with.

In August, the 34-year-old tech executive took a more radical step to restrict his use of social media and other addictive technologies. Rosenstein purchased a new iPhone and instructed his assistant to set up a parental-control feature to prevent him from downloading any apps.

He was particularly aware of the allure of Facebook “likes”, which he describes as “bright dings of pseudo-pleasure” that can be as hollow as they are seductive. And Rosenstein should know: he was the Facebook engineer who created the “like” button in the first place.

A decade after he stayed up all night coding a prototype of what was then called an “awesome” button, Rosenstein belongs to a small but growing band of Silicon Valley heretics who complain about the rise of the so-called “attention economy”: an internet shaped around the demands of an advertising economy.

These refuseniks are rarely founders or chief executives, who have little incentive to deviate from the mantra that their companies are making the world a better place. Instead, they tend to have worked a rung or two down the corporate ladder: designers, engineers and product managers who, like Rosenstein, several years ago put in place the building blocks of a digital world from which they are now trying to disentangle themselves. “It is very common,” Rosenstein says, “for humans to develop things with the best of intentions and for them to have unintended, negative consequences.”

Rosenstein, who also helped create Gchat during a stint at Google, and now leads a San Francisco-based company that improves office productivity, appears most concerned about the psychological effects on people who, research shows, touch, swipe or tap their phone 2,617 times a day.

There is growing concern that as well as addicting users, technology is contributing toward so-called “continuous partial attention”, severely limiting people’s ability to focus, and possibly lowering IQ. One recent study showed that the mere presence of smartphones damages cognitive capacity – even when the device is turned off. “Everyone is distracted,” Rosenstein says. “All of the time.”
But those concerns are trivial compared with the devastating impact upon the political system that some of Rosenstein’s peers believe can be attributed to the rise of social media and the attention-based market that drives it.

Drawing a straight line between addiction to social media and political earthquakes like Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, they contend that digital forces have completely upended the political system and, left unchecked, could even render democracy as we know it obsolete.

In 2007, Rosenstein was one of a small group of Facebook employees who decided to create a path of least resistance – a single click – to “send little bits of positivity” across the platform. Facebook’s “like” feature was, Rosenstein says, “wildly” successful: engagement soared as people enjoyed the short-term boost they got from giving or receiving social affirmation, while Facebook harvested valuable data about the preferences of users that could be sold to advertisers. The idea was soon copied by Twitter, with its heart-shaped “likes” (previously star-shaped “favourites”), Instagram, and countless other apps and websites.

It was Rosenstein’s colleague, Leah Pearlman, then a product manager at Facebook and on the team that created the Facebook “like”, who announced the feature in a 2009 blogpost. Now 35 and an illustrator, Pearlman confirmed via email that she, too, has grown disaffected with Facebook “likes” and other addictive feedback loops. She has installed a web browser plug-in to eradicate her Facebook news feed, and hired a social media manager to monitor her Facebook page so that she doesn’t have to.

“One reason I think it is particularly important for us to talk about this now is that we may be the last generation that can remember life before,” Rosenstein says. It may or may not be relevant that Rosenstein, Pearlman and most of the tech insiders questioning today’s attention economy are in their 30s, members of the last generation that can remember a world in which telephones were plugged into walls.

It is revealing that many of these younger technologists are weaning themselves off their own products, sending their children to elite Silicon Valley schools where iPhones, iPads and even laptops are banned. They appear to be abiding by a Biggie Smalls lyric from their own youth about the perils of dealing crack ****: never get high on your own supply.

One morning in April this year, designers, programmers and tech entrepreneurs from across the world gathered at a conference centre on the shore of the San Francisco Bay. They had each paid up to $1,700 to learn how to manipulate people into habitual use of their products, on a course curated by conference organiser Nir Eyal.

Eyal, 39, the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, has spent several years consulting for the tech industry, teaching techniques he developed by closely studying how the Silicon Valley giants operate.

“The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addictions,” Eyal writes. “It’s the impulse to check a message notification. It’s the pull to visit YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter for just a few minutes, only to find yourself still tapping and scrolling an hour later.” None of this is an accident, he writes. It is all “just as their designers intended”.

He explains the subtle psychological tricks that can be used to make people develop habits, such as varying the rewards people receive to create “a craving”, or exploiting negative emotions that can act as “triggers”. “Feelings of boredom, loneliness, frustration, confusion and indecisiveness often instigate a slight pain or irritation and prompt an almost instantaneous and often mindless action to quell the negative sensation,” Eyal writes.
facebook-like-button-creator-says-highly-addictive-warns-social-media-banned

Less than 5 minutes after posting this story on social media, Facebook banned me for 6 days in retaliation for daring to expose them.

Attendees of the 2017 Habit Summit might have been surprised when Eyal walked on stage to announce that this year’s keynote speech was about “something a little different”. He wanted to address the growing concern that technological manipulation was somehow harmful or immoral. He told his audience that they should be careful not to abuse persuasive design, and wary of crossing a line into coercion.

But he was defensive of the techniques he teaches, and dismissive of those who compare tech addiction to drugs. “We’re not freebasing Facebook and injecting Instagram here,” he said. He flashed up a slide of a shelf filled with sugary baked goods. “Just as we shouldn’t blame the baker for making such delicious treats, we can’t blame tech makers for making their products so good we want to use them,” he said. “Of course that’s what tech companies will do. And frankly: do we want it any other way?”

Without irony, Eyal finished his talk with some personal tips for resisting the lure of technology. He told his audience he uses a Chrome extension, called DF YouTube, “which scrubs out a lot of those external triggers” he writes about in his book, and recommended an app called Pocket Points that “rewards you for staying off your phone when you need to focus”.

Finally, Eyal confided the lengths he goes to protect his own family. He has installed in his house an outlet timer connected to a router that cuts off access to the internet at a set time every day. “The idea is to remember that we are not powerless,” he said. “We are in control.”

But are we? If the people who built these technologies are taking such radical steps to wean themselves free, can the rest of us reasonably be expected to exercise our free will?

Not according to Tristan Harris, a 33-year-old former Google employee turned vocal critic of the tech industry. “All of us are jacked into this system,” he says. “All of our minds can be hijacked. Our choices are not as free as we think they are.” source
120  General Category / Revelation Prophecy / Re: Visible, Local NT Church Biblically Defended! VIRTUAL "Church" Debunked! on: October 06, 2017, 06:26:23 pm
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/man-created-facebook-like-button-now-warns-mind-can-hijacked-social-media/
Man Who Created The Facebook ‘Like’ Button Now Warns Your Mind Can Be ‘Hijacked’ Through Social Media
In 2007, Rosenstein was one of a small group of Facebook employees who decided to create a path of least resistance – a single click – to “send little bits of positivity” across the platform. Facebook’s “like” feature was, Rosenstein says, “wildly” successful: engagement soared as people enjoyed the short-term boost they got from giving or receiving social affirmation, while Facebook harvested valuable data about the preferences of users that could be sold to advertisers. The idea was soon copied by Twitter, with its heart-shaped “likes” (previously star-shaped “favourites”), Instagram, and countless other apps and websites.

10/6/17

Justin Rosenstein had tweaked his laptop’s operating system to block Reddit, banned himself from Snapchat, which he compares to heroin, and imposed limits on his use of Facebook. But even that wasn’t enough.

“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s very interesting to understand that the very people who created the highly-addictive ‘like’ system have now installed extensions on their devices to block those same features from being active. What does that tell you about how enslaving social media can be? Just imagine how it will be in a few years when AI is fully rolled out, and the devices are doing our thinking for us. The “brave new world’ is a very scary place to be, and I honestly don’t think any of us really know what we’re playing with.

In August, the 34-year-old tech executive took a more radical step to restrict his use of social media and other addictive technologies. Rosenstein purchased a new iPhone and instructed his assistant to set up a parental-control feature to prevent him from downloading any apps.

He was particularly aware of the allure of Facebook “likes”, which he describes as “bright dings of pseudo-pleasure” that can be as hollow as they are seductive. And Rosenstein should know: he was the Facebook engineer who created the “like” button in the first place.

A decade after he stayed up all night coding a prototype of what was then called an “awesome” button, Rosenstein belongs to a small but growing band of Silicon Valley heretics who complain about the rise of the so-called “attention economy”: an internet shaped around the demands of an advertising economy.

These refuseniks are rarely founders or chief executives, who have little incentive to deviate from the mantra that their companies are making the world a better place. Instead, they tend to have worked a rung or two down the corporate ladder: designers, engineers and product managers who, like Rosenstein, several years ago put in place the building blocks of a digital world from which they are now trying to disentangle themselves. “It is very common,” Rosenstein says, “for humans to develop things with the best of intentions and for them to have unintended, negative consequences.”

Rosenstein, who also helped create Gchat during a stint at Google, and now leads a San Francisco-based company that improves office productivity, appears most concerned about the psychological effects on people who, research shows, touch, swipe or tap their phone 2,617 times a day.

There is growing concern that as well as addicting users, technology is contributing toward so-called “continuous partial attention”, severely limiting people’s ability to focus, and possibly lowering IQ. One recent study showed that the mere presence of smartphones damages cognitive capacity – even when the device is turned off. “Everyone is distracted,” Rosenstein says. “All of the time.”
But those concerns are trivial compared with the devastating impact upon the political system that some of Rosenstein’s peers believe can be attributed to the rise of social media and the attention-based market that drives it.

Drawing a straight line between addiction to social media and political earthquakes like Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, they contend that digital forces have completely upended the political system and, left unchecked, could even render democracy as we know it obsolete.

In 2007, Rosenstein was one of a small group of Facebook employees who decided to create a path of least resistance – a single click – to “send little bits of positivity” across the platform. Facebook’s “like” feature was, Rosenstein says, “wildly” successful: engagement soared as people enjoyed the short-term boost they got from giving or receiving social affirmation, while Facebook harvested valuable data about the preferences of users that could be sold to advertisers. The idea was soon copied by Twitter, with its heart-shaped “likes” (previously star-shaped “favourites”), Instagram, and countless other apps and websites.

It was Rosenstein’s colleague, Leah Pearlman, then a product manager at Facebook and on the team that created the Facebook “like”, who announced the feature in a 2009 blogpost. Now 35 and an illustrator, Pearlman confirmed via email that she, too, has grown disaffected with Facebook “likes” and other addictive feedback loops. She has installed a web browser plug-in to eradicate her Facebook news feed, and hired a social media manager to monitor her Facebook page so that she doesn’t have to.

“One reason I think it is particularly important for us to talk about this now is that we may be the last generation that can remember life before,” Rosenstein says. It may or may not be relevant that Rosenstein, Pearlman and most of the tech insiders questioning today’s attention economy are in their 30s, members of the last generation that can remember a world in which telephones were plugged into walls.

It is revealing that many of these younger technologists are weaning themselves off their own products, sending their children to elite Silicon Valley schools where iPhones, iPads and even laptops are banned. They appear to be abiding by a Biggie Smalls lyric from their own youth about the perils of dealing crack ****: never get high on your own supply.

One morning in April this year, designers, programmers and tech entrepreneurs from across the world gathered at a conference centre on the shore of the San Francisco Bay. They had each paid up to $1,700 to learn how to manipulate people into habitual use of their products, on a course curated by conference organiser Nir Eyal.

Eyal, 39, the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, has spent several years consulting for the tech industry, teaching techniques he developed by closely studying how the Silicon Valley giants operate.

“The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addictions,” Eyal writes. “It’s the impulse to check a message notification. It’s the pull to visit YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter for just a few minutes, only to find yourself still tapping and scrolling an hour later.” None of this is an accident, he writes. It is all “just as their designers intended”.

He explains the subtle psychological tricks that can be used to make people develop habits, such as varying the rewards people receive to create “a craving”, or exploiting negative emotions that can act as “triggers”. “Feelings of boredom, loneliness, frustration, confusion and indecisiveness often instigate a slight pain or irritation and prompt an almost instantaneous and often mindless action to quell the negative sensation,” Eyal writes.
facebook-like-button-creator-says-highly-addictive-warns-social-media-banned

Less than 5 minutes after posting this story on social media, Facebook banned me for 6 days in retaliation for daring to expose them.

Attendees of the 2017 Habit Summit might have been surprised when Eyal walked on stage to announce that this year’s keynote speech was about “something a little different”. He wanted to address the growing concern that technological manipulation was somehow harmful or immoral. He told his audience that they should be careful not to abuse persuasive design, and wary of crossing a line into coercion.

But he was defensive of the techniques he teaches, and dismissive of those who compare tech addiction to drugs. “We’re not freebasing Facebook and injecting Instagram here,” he said. He flashed up a slide of a shelf filled with sugary baked goods. “Just as we shouldn’t blame the baker for making such delicious treats, we can’t blame tech makers for making their products so good we want to use them,” he said. “Of course that’s what tech companies will do. And frankly: do we want it any other way?”

Without irony, Eyal finished his talk with some personal tips for resisting the lure of technology. He told his audience he uses a Chrome extension, called DF YouTube, “which scrubs out a lot of those external triggers” he writes about in his book, and recommended an app called Pocket Points that “rewards you for staying off your phone when you need to focus”.

Finally, Eyal confided the lengths he goes to protect his own family. He has installed in his house an outlet timer connected to a router that cuts off access to the internet at a set time every day. “The idea is to remember that we are not powerless,” he said. “We are in control.”

But are we? If the people who built these technologies are taking such radical steps to wean themselves free, can the rest of us reasonably be expected to exercise our free will?

Not according to Tristan Harris, a 33-year-old former Google employee turned vocal critic of the tech industry. “All of us are jacked into this system,” he says. “All of our minds can be hijacked. Our choices are not as free as we think they are.” source
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