Summary

The article emphasizes the necessity of both individual and institutional changes to foster a better future, particularly focusing on a healthier relationship with technology and combating anti-science attitudes.

Abstract

The author of the article argues that making 2021 a better year requires collective effort beyond personal habit changes. Institutional change is seen as the key to addressing complex global issues. The article highlights the need to reassess our interaction with technology, recognizing its non-neutral influence on society, and the importance of protecting user privacy and preventing the spread of harmful disinformation. It suggests a dialectical approach where governments and Big Tech companies engage in meaningful dialogue to establish checks and balances. On an individual level, self-reflection on social media consumption habits is encouraged to resist the manipulation of attention by algorithms. Furthermore, the article stresses the urgency of fighting against increasing anti-science sentiments that hinder progress and threaten public health, advocating for improved scientific communication and education to foster a return to reason.

Opinions

Technology, especially social media, is not neutral and has a significant negative impact that needs to be addressed through both individual and institutional actions.
Governments must engage with Big Tech to protect free speech while also safeguarding user privacy and combating disinformation.
Individuals should critically assess their social media habits and the time spent on various platforms, questioning the value and motivation behind their online activities.
The proliferation of anti-science attitudes is alarming and dangerous, necessitating a collective effort to promote scientific literacy and reason.
Educational improvements and better communication from the scientific community are essential to combat anti-scientific thinking.
The collective will and institutional changes are possible and necessary for a better future, despite the challenges they present.

Yes, We Can Make 2021 A Better Year!

Yes, 2021 can be a better year! But it will take some work.

And I don’t mean this just on the individual level. First, we need to lay the groundwork for better, more realistic thinking about the future and how we can work together to start trying to solve some really complicated problems.

This is not a “how-to” article on habit building or “ways to make your New Year’s resolutions stick” piece, though you can absolutely find a great many good reads like that on this site. Rather, I write to argue that institutional change remains the key to building a better future. And though that type of change can be deeply challenging, it’s not entirely impossible. The collective will can and does shift, which in turn forces necessary changes.

So let’s dive right in on how we, homo sapiens, have to get our collective shit together and make this world better!

Re-Thinking Our Relationship to Technology

Plain and simple, technology is NOT neutral. Many of us have seen ‘The Social Dilemma’ on Netflix — flawed, but accurate mostly — but to think that our new era of social media proliferation does not have a negative side is to deny reality. We CANNOT continue to allow this unintended, collective social experiment to push us further into corrosive tribalistic thinking.

There are two levels to approach the problem: individual level and institutional level.

Institutionally, governments and the Big Tech platforms have to get in genuine conversations with one another. Sure, protecting free speech is a priority, but protecting users' privacy and encouraging platforms to better protect against harmful disinformation is as well. Governments (though many flawed) have to push, and Big Tech has to push back. This is a dialectic. It won’t be perfect. It never will. But it’s an inroad to getting some checks and balances on a beast that is mostly out of control right now.

Individually, we have to reflect on our personal habits and social media diet. This is hard. I know I personally struggle seemingly all the time here. Yet, it really is worthwhile to question yourself from time to time.

Ask yourself: Is this Twitter-hole of endless replies worth scrolling through?

Ask yourself: Do I need to be on looking at Instagram this much? Is there some feeling I’m chasing, or am I just bored?

Ask yourself: Is this Facebook link from a trustworthy source? Is there evidence to back up the author’s claims? Is it really worth reading? Is there a better use of my time right now?

Ask yourself: Do I really need to watch another YouTube video right now?

The algorithms running on virtually all social media platforms really do want to game your attention. And they are succeeding wildly. To be sure, gamifying attention can be useful when, for example, using an app to generate healthy habits. Still, virtually all social media platforms intend to get you to keep your face glued to your screen: more clicks, more traffic.

Technology truly is a double edge sword. There’s good. There’s bad. This is obvious. But it’s never been more clear that how we engage with our technology, we’ll need to be more balanced, more reflective, and perhaps more restrained.

Striving for moderation in our social media use may be of utmost importance for improving ourselves and the world in 2021 and beyond.

Fight Against Anti-Science Attitudes

2021 will truly be better when we continue in earnest to stand against anti-scientific attitudes that are becoming more pervasive in politics and communities. Again, this will not be easy. It’s as much embarrassing as it is alarming that seemingly many people harbor anti-science sentiment.

One could argue historically that America always had a bit of this anti-science stubbornness. Sure enough. But it’s more than tired and old now, and is in fact, becoming dangerous and impeding progress in profound ways. For example, we’ll likely have a new crop of anti-vaxxers that will be some of the same people who thought the virus was a complete hoax.

This MUST change for things to get better. Combating anti-scientific attitudes in large depends on, again, institutions and individuals. Furthermore, it depends on improving education and a sincere return to reason.

Not surprisingly, efforts to allay anti-scientific attitudes get stifled by and large because of the diffusive, disorienting effects of social media; hence, why I argue firstly that our relationship with how we are engaging with technology needs to change. Additionally, the scientifically erudite must do better to explain the science and not in a condescending manner or in a way that makes science seem only accessible to the educationally elite.

Improving how we communicate science and how we work and live in the post-pandemic world will be essential for the years to come. There’s much more to what ails Humanity at the beginning of this decade. And these types of transformations will, clearly, be a battle. But our collective ability to act can put us on a pathway for a better future.

Yes, we can make 2021 (and beyond) better! …