All Tech Is Human x Civics Unplugged’s Intergenerational Youth Roundtable: A Discussion on Social Media and Tech Policy

By: Selene Hernandez, Social Work Intern, All Tech Is Human

In recognition of the national attention that was directed to the congressional hearings involving TikTok, All Tech Is Human X Civics Unplugged hosted the second iteration of our Intergenerational Youth Roundtable series to discuss Social Media and Tech Policy.

The Intergenerational Youth Roundtable series was created to engage a collective of folks with varying lived and professional experiences in exploring issues at the intersection of Youth, Tech, and Well-being. In recognition of the fact that the manner in which we identify a problem shapes how we develop a solution for it, the roundtable series serves as an opportunity to cultivate a space where youth experiences, perspectives, and approaches are at the forefront of our discussions.

This month, we invited Emma Leiken from Omidyar Network’s Responsible Technology team to facilitate a discussion around her recent article, where she discussed the need for systems-level solutions to rein in the harms of big tech companies like TikTok.

Considering that we had a collective of folks who are at varying stages of their professional career journeys, Leiken began the discussion by talking about the opportunities, experiences, and roles that led her to her current position. She highlighted opportunities she had while working at Google that introduced her to the idea of passion projects to help build career growth and learning, in Google-speak, termed “20% time.” This concept refers to a practice at Google where some folks commit 20% of their workday to explore projects across teams that spark their curiosity. Although not everyone may have the opportunity to work for an organization that enables folks to allocate a percentage of their work day to cross-functional projects of their own interest, this practice ultimately highlights the importance of following your curiosities. By following your curiosities, you may gain some clarity around what you would like to explore across your career journey.

Leiken shared how her experience of working within the responsible tech ecosystem taught her the importance of network-building to cultivate truly intergenerational partnerships. In naming that there are some limitations to youth working in responsible tech, such as the issue of leadership turnover because folks may leave their work role to pursue higher education, intergenerational partnerships can be a solution to creating sustainable impact. 

After sharing a bit about their career journey, Emma Leiken, Thanasi Dilos, Sandra Khalil and Selene Hernandez facilitated breakout discussion groups. We had a hybrid group of twenty folks with a variety of professional, educational, and identity backgrounds. Here are some of the themes that came up:

If not responsibly stewarded, social media platforms can be vehicles for harm.

Social media platforms should not be awarded complete responsibility for creating harm. There are institutions that exist in real life that create harm that is transformed, exacerbated, and highlighted across digital spaces. By recognizing social media platforms as tools and not as creators of harm, we can begin to identify the underlying institutional issues that contribute to and enable harm to exist in digital spaces. 

“We have developed a technology where people have the same agency they have in the real world and it is translated online. Who is determining what a threat is and why? This is important to identify.” - Anonymous participant

It’s important to ask the question: Who are design choices centering?

In discussing the importance of implementing intentional design choices to prevent harm, our attention was brought to a bigger question: who are these design choices made for? This roundtable highlighted the role of capitalism as a barrier that prevents companies and platforms from placing people’s well-being at the forefront of any social media design process. 

“Design choices could be made to make platforms less addictive but why would tech companies be incentivized to make this decision? These companies are never going to make real changes if their business model prioritizes the process of getting people addicted.” - Eliza McCullough, Partnership on AI

Is there a solution to preventing harm that erupts out of social media platforms?

No, there is no silver bullet solution, but rather a toolbox approach that can make these platforms safer. Throughout our discussion about the need for policies that ensure that social media platforms are more intentional with caring for people’s well-being, we named the need for society to find a direction to go where we are aligned in our principles and values. By avoiding hyper fixation on a solution and instead finding a direction that leads us towards maintaining people’s well-being, we can remain malleable to our ever-changing relationship with social media platforms.

“Pointed solutions are merely band-aids, they are not holistic solutions.” - Anonymous participant

We did not reach any solutions, in fact, we posed more questions than answers. However, at All Tech Is Human, we know wicked tech & society issues are not going to be solved in a single discussion. To create a better tech future, we are utilizing this roundtable discussion series to foster the development of intergenerational partnerships and collaborations.

Stay tuned for an update about our next roundtable session in May where we will discuss Responsible AI. 

Selene Hernandez is an MSW Candidate at Columbia University and a Social Work Intern at All Tech Is Human. For questions about the Intergenerational Youth Roundtable series, please contact Sandra Khalil at sandra@alltechishuman.org or via Slack.