Friday's Digest - The Newsletter for Doctors & Scientists

Friday's Digest #65

Social Media Has Replaced Teachers and Parents.

And This is Why It’s So Bad.

You need more “likes” to get noticed. But “likes” have now become the only thing that matters. This is why it’s so bad.

November 24th, 2023

Friday's Digest - The Newsletter for Doctors & Scientists

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Preface
Main Article

Preface

This week, things have gotten much worse on US campuses.

In some places, Jewish students are afraid to walk around on campus and are being attacked. Verbally and physically.

It seems that those acts against Jews are very popular on Social Media, and it leaves you wondering if the history of the 1930s is starting to raise its ugly head again.

This time, with the help of technology.

Number 65.

Main Article

Dinner Table at My Parents

When you live abroad, you miss things.

I miss Friday dinners at my parents' house.

Though we aren't religious, my dad would always perform a Kiddush every Friday, reciting a few words over a glass of wine to welcome the Sabbath.

And then we sat to eat, and talked. Talked, and ate.

When I was little, it was just the five of us.

With time, we expanded.

Boyfriends, girlfriend, husbands, wife, babies, and children joined our dinners.

It was there, at that dinner table, where I absorbed most of my values.

I learned the difference between right and wrong.

I also miss lunches at my parents’ home. I miss reading the weekend newspaper and discussing current events with my parents.

It sounds so basic and not substantial, right? Eating and discussing the news.

But these lunches reinforced my values and reminded me of my roots.

They helped me to keep my values clear. What’s right, and what’s wrong.

The Evolution of The Internet

We were among the first to have internet at home.

Back then, the internet had only raw information.

Information wasn’t edited from its original version.

And then came Social Media.

Social media has very little fact-checking and many hidden agendas. For years, I stayed clear from social media.

But then I became a scientist and started using Twitter to keep up-to-date.

And in August 2022, I started my newsletter. When you write a newsletter, you must use social media.

So now I have Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

And there’s so much going on there.

There’s the algorithm that decides what’s important and what’s not. There are likes, hashtags, reposts, reporting inappropriate content, direct messages, and the list goes on and on.

But it all comes down to this: You need more “likes” to get noticed. “Likes” are the number 1 priority on social media.

I wish values were at least the number 2 priority.

But they’re not. Values are simply irrelevant on social media.

#️⃣ Hashtags replace facts.

👍 “Likes” become the values.

"Dad, Can I Have a Smartphone?"

The consequences of the years we looked away and let social media educate young minds are now apparent.

Social media platforms have a single motive: to keep you on social media to make money.

So if you searched “the sky is not blue” long enough, you will get a “proof” for that.

You will see more and more people who believe the sky isn't blue. You’ll become friends with them.

You won’t see people who believe otherwise. Social media will make sure of that.

That’s the illusion of social media.

This is why our kids don’t have a smartphone.

Our dinner table is the source of their values.

Phones at the Dinner Table

But what if the younger minds get bored at the dinner table?

What if they scroll their phones instead?

The phones become their parents and teachers.

Social media becomes their role model. Social media teaches them what’s right and what’s wrong.

But on social media, the right is “like”. The right is advertisement money.

“Like” is all that matters.

The Sky Isn’t Blue Anymore

So, with the help of some ”likes”, the sky isn’t blue on social media.

When young minds read a letter Bin Laden wrote on social media, they want to know if it’s right or wrong. So they glance down at the “like” count.

According to social media, like is right. Everything else is wrong. And the letter becomes a young generation’s value. The sky isn’t blue.

What happened to Israeli women on October 7th is no different.

In the world of social media, the ones who call it a lie get likes. So, according to social media rules, it becomes a lie.

And the power of social media is so strong, that women’s organizations are calling the victims liars. Just think about it. WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS are calling the victims LIARS.

At first, I was surprised.

But then I saw the leaders of these women’s organizations. It became clear that they were also educated on the lap of social media.

In the eyes of these women’s organizations, the sky isn't blue.

No dinner table will teach them otherwise.

So What’s Next?

If the young generation is chanting anti-Semitic slogans because it’s popular on TikTok, what’s next?

When they draw Swastikas (the nazi symbol) because it boosts their likes on Twitter, what’s next?

When they film themselves harming Jews to get more “likes” on social media, what’s next?

If mass murderers become heroes, if the protectors of women abandon women, we have lost our dinner tables.

We are left with “likes”.

These will decide what, and who, will be next.

Epilogue

That’s it for this issue.

Hope for better times.

Shay

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