Bruno Patino invites the “homo numericus” to come out of his condition of “goldfish”

Is another digital system possible? Bruno Patino wants to believe it in this new essay, which extends the reflection of The Goldfish Civilization: A Small Treatise on the Attention Economy. Two and a half years ago, the boss of Arte, from an experience of personal exhaustion, participated in the awareness of the misdeeds of the “platformization of the world” in the wake of the great digital philosopher Bernard Stiegler , passed away in August 2020. With eloquent examples, he explained how Internet giants stimulate emotions and the reward circuit to further increase our dependence on screens and their profitability.

Many readers have recognized this metaphor of the spinning fish in its bowl. The discussions that followed fueled his reflection as a journalist, and the search for individual and collective solutions to get out of the “total screen” into which the pandemic has plunged us by blurring our borders between private and public, real and virtual. Screen time has thus increased since 2020 by 60% among 6-10 year olds, 70% among adolescents and 40% among adults.. The consultation time of the eight main platforms reaches 2.5 hours per day. And three quarters of French people now consider themselves dependent on their smartphones.

→ READ. Bruno Patino intends to cultivate the “need for Arte”

From democracy to democracy

Very efficient for Internet players, this economic model exhausts our psyche and disrupts public debate. If the “Hate and disinformation accounts” only represent “2 to 3%” of the 4.2 billion existing active accounts, their nuisance power is enormous. History may remember Joe Biden’s wrath from July 16, 2021. « They kill people ! » (“They kill people!”) Had moved the American president, while the Center for countering hatred online revealed that twelve “disinformers” were at the origin of 65% (and even 73% on Facebook) of messages of disinformation on the vaccine once morest the Covid-19.

→ TESTIMONIAL. Frances Haugen: “Let us force platforms like Facebook to assume their responsibilities”

A year ago, online disinformation ended in the real world, with the invasion of Capitol Hill by supporters of Donald Trump.

A democracy, which no longer has “Kill” and no longer rests solely on its legislative, executive and judicial powers, is akin to a “ emocracy “:” a regime which makes our emotions performative and invades the public space “, theorizes Bruno Patino. He likens social networks to a “Fifth estate” knowing “neither borders, nor checks and balances”. But of which “The two forces which characterize it, acceleration and ordering, cause an explosion from which no installed power emerges unscathed”, including the fourth estate of the press.

A public service social network

Faced with these risks of “De-civilization” and operating the ” human nature “ Until exhaustion, Bruno Patino draws reasons for hope in this dense, intelligible and constructive story. On a personal level, the awareness of one’s “Voluntary digital bondage” must help regain control over his life. More collectively, while Europe and the United States are increasing the pressure on Internet giants like Facebook, researchers and entrepreneurs are proposing alternatives that revive the libertarian and egalitarian utopia of the Internet pioneers. Like Etan Zuckerman, who promotes a public service social network funded by a tax on targeted by Gafa.

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