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00:03Greetings, friends. This is Steve Dupuy for the Bible News Prophecy Program with Dr. Bob Thiel,
00:09bringing you news and analysis of world events in light of Bible prophecy.
00:14Dr. Thiel, I have noticed that everywhere I go, from eating in restaurants to nature walks to
00:19sporting events, people have their nose stuck in their cell phones. What's up with that?
00:24Well, look, there are benefits to mobile cellular telephones, but a lot of people seem to be at
00:31least semi-addicted to them. Now, this week, NPR posted something. Here's the headline.
00:38The surprising origin of four features that superglue kids and adults to screens.
00:44And first, it mentions that there were two landmark cases that social media companies were found
00:50liable for endangering and harming children. And Meta and Google want to appeal these particular
00:55things. They dispute the idea that their products are addictive. But it says for over more than a
01:01decade, scientists have identified features of social media and other apps that hold people's
01:07attentions as long as possible. These features create, quote, kind of a superglue on the apps,
01:14says the cultural anthropologist Natasha Daoshul at Newark University, who pioneered research in this
01:21field. She said, quote, they keep us spending more time on these apps and spending more money.
01:26They drain us of our energy and ourselves. And understanding this, what they're doing may help us.
01:35Then the article says, during the trial in California, the attorney bringing the case against
01:40Meta and Google, said they designed their apps to behave like digital casinos. And that's an
01:47appropriate comparison, according to Shul's research, because the major design elements in social media
01:52have surprising roots in what? The gambling industry.
01:57Well, Meta and Google should just admit to the success of their development departments.
02:03After all, high use slash addiction was the point of the app. Tell us more about
02:09how this is tied to digital gambling.
02:12Well, this NPR article continued with, they tied it in with slot machines, video slot machines,
02:20quote, pulled into the machine zone. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the casino industry gradually and
02:26purposely created what many scientists consider to be the most addictive form of gambling, video slot
02:32machines. There's something like a giant app played on a huge video screen with ergonomic
02:38a chair attached to it. They can play for 24 hours, even 48 hours straight. Some people
02:44even tell Shul, they wear adult diapers to the casino so they don't have to stop gambling to use the
02:49restroom. Wow.
02:54That's sad. That's worse than drugs. What is the addiction?
03:00Well, what Shul found out during her research was that there were four key features that when
03:06combined together, help hold people on the gambling devices. These features trigger a
03:12translate or disassociated state, state known as, quote, the machine zone or dark flow, which people
03:20lose track of their sense of time and place. Anyway, the article says there are four features that create
03:27that superglue. Number one, solitude. Quote, when the relationship is just between you and the
03:34machine, it removes social cues for stopping, Shul says. Number two, bottomlessness.
03:42It says videos keep appearing on TikTok, YouTube, photos, comments keep people popping on Instagram.
03:50That's seemingly endless content for you to see. It all shows or plays automatically. Quote,
03:56there's no natural stopping point, Shul says. So you never feel finished or satisfied.
04:03Feature three, speed. The faster people play video slots, the longer people gamble.
04:09Well, I would think you'd lose your money faster and give up, but okay.
04:13Shul found in her review of research performed by the gambling industry, speed has a similar effect
04:19on social media and video streaming app, she says. The faster people can scroll, watch, and then watch
04:27again, the harder it is for them, for many of them, to stop and pull away from the app. Quote,
04:33the speed of the feedback can cause this sense that you merge with the screen.
04:37You don't know where you begin and the machine ends, Shul says.
04:41The speed really pulls you into the flow.
04:44Anyway, for social media, the article says. The speed at which we find new material has jumped
04:49with several technological advances, including the invention of a higher speed internet and
04:54something called infinite scroll.
04:56Number four. Feature four. Teasing or giving you almost what you want.
05:04The final ingredient is perhaps the most important, says Jonathan D. Morrow, a neuroscientist and
05:11psychiatrist at University of Michigan. It's all about how apps select content for you, how it
05:19typically works. First, the software uses AI to determine what you're hoping to find or see.
05:25Well, even if you don't know what you want, the app knows. It's very good at figuring it out,
05:29Morrow says. So then, he says, the app withholds that reward. Quote, apps don't give it to you.
05:36They give you something close to that. And a few clicks later, the algorithm gives you something
05:40even closer. Then the article says, you know, this is a recipe for overuse. Then, quoting Shul again,
05:49it says, when an app combines these four features, solitude, bottomlessness, speed, and teasing,
05:56it creates kind of a recipe for overuse for nearly everyone. But the recipe is especially
06:03harmful for children, she adds. Quote, it's a cruel setup, especially when kids are concerned.
06:09Kids are obviously more vulnerable, end quote. Now, I have noticed that every time I do a search
06:17for something on my computer or phone, I'm inundated with just what I'm almost looking for.
06:25Well, yeah, that happens a lot with apps. But it's that fourth feature, teasing, or giving you
06:31almost what you want, is also a key factor in gambling and pornography as well. Yet, people spend
06:40a lot of money on both of those. So the Bible warns, and I say a 55 verse two, why
06:47do you spend your
06:48wages for that which does not satisfy? And it's more than non-satisfaction that comes with pornography,
06:57which, by the way, was basically the major initial funding for the commercial internet.
07:03And as well as gambling and being excessively glued to your social media. But there's also other
07:11problems. Back in 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General put out a report on teens and social media.
07:21It was a public statement that calls for the American people's attention to what they said was an
07:26urgent public health issue and provides recommendations how it should be addressed.
07:31They say basically there's growing concerns about the effect of social media on youth's
07:37mental health. Probably adults too, but that wasn't their focus.
07:42It says the current evidence about the positive and negative effects of social media on children
07:47and adolescents basically affects mental health and well-being concerns. And they didn't look
07:55at everything, but basically what they're finding is that this electronic searches for
08:01research basically gets people caught into it. And they're trying to come up with things that,
08:10you know, adults can do. Well, anyway, you know, there are problems, of course, with many who are
08:15overly involved with what I would call, or what's being called social media.
08:19Well, with the court ruling against Meta and Google and the Surgeon General's advisory calling for the
08:27nation's immediate action, is the risk finally being addressed?
08:34Well, despite these court rulings and all that stuff, there's an article that came out this week also,
08:40same time, I think the same day the NPR article came out. Here's the headline.
08:45Social media algorithms are becoming increasingly dangerous. So before I go to the article, the fact with AI,
08:52AI, and, you know, AI starts to know who you are, and it's getting there. Well, anyway, here's what this
08:59article says.
09:01Social media algorithms are controlling how we communicate and interact, and their influence is only growing stronger.
09:07What once felt like a tool for connection has turned into a system that shapes our behavior, attention, and even
09:14the way we think.
09:15The more we rely on these platforms, the less control we seem to have on how we spend our time.
09:22And this part's interesting. Here's, I'm going to read this verbatim. I've noticed, I started to notice in small moments,
09:30when my phone buzzes, I don't check it, and I don't check it, I get a weird scent of anxiety,
09:35like I'm missing something important.
09:37Now, many of you know, I'm not a cell phone person. I had mine on longer than I normally do
09:43this week.
09:43And, yeah, when it buzzed, I kind of felt I needed to go and look at it.
09:47So I'm actually happy that I pretty much never have it, almost never have it on.
09:55Anyway, it says the algorithm allows users to be in their own personal bubble, in a world catered to it.
10:02And then it mentions a study done by Columbia University that found that engagement-based algorithms amplify emotionally charged and
10:11opposing content,
10:12reinforcing the same perspective and making users feel negative toward opposing views.
10:20And it says at this point, it feels instinctual for people to pull out their phones whenever they experience any
10:25kind of boredom or discomfort.
10:27And that's what makes it more concerning.
10:30It's not a choice people are actively thinking about.
10:32It's something that just happens.
10:38And here's something that Jose Marichal, a professor of political science at California Lutheran University, said, quote,
10:45there's a real cool concept in sociality called habitus.
10:49Like you set your practices, you get rewarded or punished for like day-to-day life.
10:54And increasingly, scrolling gives you that reward of being freed from boredom.
11:02Says it feels like it's coming from you.
11:05It feels like you're in charge, you're in control.
11:08Even though it feels like you're the one controlling it, it's also figuring out not just what's going to keep
11:14you there,
11:14but also the things you might be interested in.
11:16End quote.
11:19Could we say any of this is satanic?
11:23Yeah, because in a lot of ways, this is how Satan and the devil works.
11:26You know, the Bible calls him in 2 Corinthians 4, 4, the God of this world.
11:30And in Ephesians 2, 2, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit, which now works in the
11:37sons of disobedience.
11:38Satan blasts a hostility toward the way of peace.
11:42And people, adults and children, consider this normal.
11:44Satan's society, which traditions that people are comfortable with, that Jesus also condemned.
11:51Just like certain aspects of web design, gambling tricks, pornography, and algorithms,
11:57Satan's ways often seem natural and normal.
12:00And we have to be mindful of that.
12:03Well, since we all use cell phones, where do we go from here?
12:09Well, children and adults, there's three things.
12:11One, limit their entertainment time on the internet or on their cell phones.
12:15Two, never intentionally view pornography.
12:18And three, as I mentioned before, often have their cellular mobile phones turned off.
12:23And also, we can consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, starting in verse 11, New King James.
12:32As Christians, we're going to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against
12:37the wiles of the devil.
12:38Because we don't wrestle against flesh and blood.
12:41When you're dealing with algorithms and stuff, it's not normal flesh and blood either.
12:45But anyway, against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age,
12:51against spiritual hosts of wickedness in high places.
12:54Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
12:59and having done all to stand.
13:01For it is to stand, therefore, having our waist girded with truth,
13:05put on the breastplate of righteousness,
13:07shot our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
13:10And above all, take the shield of faith that we'll be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked
13:16one,
13:17take the helm of the salvation, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
13:21We're supposed to pray always.
13:27And to support getting the gospel out, is what Paul wrote.
13:33So, if you focus completely on yourself,
13:36obviously you're not going to be doing what God wants.
13:39You're not going to be able to break Satan's influence if you don't want to do what God says.
13:44But, with God's help, we can change.
13:46As the Apostle Paul wrote, Philippians 4.13,
13:51I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
13:56And by the way, related to that, we also put out another video
13:59about how to change your life in five seconds.
14:02And basically, you're not sure what to do.
14:04You say, Jesus, help me.
14:05Anyway, you and your children can break the superglue of social media, gambling, and or pornography
14:11if you obey the word of God, rely on Jesus, and support the work of God.
14:17Thank you, Dr. Thiel.
14:18For more interviews with Dr. Thiel, in addition to written, as well as audio articles,
14:23visit our website at BibleNewsProphecy.net.
14:26This is Steve Dupuis for the Bible News Prophecy Program.