Some thoughts/observations on a potentially complex interplay of sleep deprivation, social media/Facebook attention/addiction, the hijacking of the cerebral cortex (executive function/reason) by the amygdala (emotion), and personality trait-influenced fake news propagation. 1/
First, let’s start with sleep deficiency. While listening to @SamHarrisOrg’s podcast with sleep researcher Matthew Walker/@sleepdiplomat, something caught my attention about the effect of sleep deficiency on psychiatric disorders. 2/ samharris.org/podcasts/makin…
At the 1:27 mark, Walker explains his research findings on sleep and executive function/judgment/emotional reactivity (I cleaned it up to make it more readable): 3/ 
The connection between sleep deficiency & anxiety….particularly the PTSD-like neurological profile….is especially interesting because it would seem to tie into, and be a compounding/exacerbating factor in another PTSD-like response to emotionally triggering political news: 4/
Specifically…..how the relentless manipulation of the neuropsychological "fight-or-flight" fear response creates PTSD-like, hyper-vigilance that causes people to see nearly everyone/everything as an enemy/threat, and to perceive minor threats through an existential lens: 5/
Keeping in mind the compounding, PTSD-like effect of lack of sleep, and the manipulation/exploitation of the neuropsychological fear response, let’s now focus on some of the relevant causes of lack of sleep. 14/
In October, a Facebook whistleblower warned of the addictive nature of Facebook’s algorithm. businessinsider.com/big-tech-addic…
But let’s hold off on thinking about the literal addiction component, and instead think about the effect of that algorithm: To keep people logged onto the site for as long as possible, b/c the longer each person is logged on, the more advertising money the company generates. 15/
Bringing this back to the issue of sleep, obviously if people are logged onto the site, they’re not sleeping.
But there’s also another factor:
Electronic screens give off blue light that disrupts the natural sleep-wake cycle by suppressing the body’s release of melatonin. 16/
But there’s also another factor:
Electronic screens give off blue light that disrupts the natural sleep-wake cycle by suppressing the body’s release of melatonin. 16/
This disruption of the natural sleep cycle can prevent people from being able to sleep for hours even after they have logged off of the site/device. 17/
Circling back to the addiction theme, I’ve analyzed how an addiction model may help explain political tribalism/radicalization. The more tribalized/radicalized a person is, the more time that person is likely to spend consuming political “news”. 18/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1404066644524101643
Regardless of whether the “addiction” is to Facebook’s algorithms, or to the actual subject matter (the political “maybes”)......19/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1404067936956940291
....the result is the same: A dysfunctional amount of time committed to the addictive behavior (and presumably a lack of sleep)……and the potential impairment of judgement/self-control/decision making.
More on this in a moment.
Let’s recap so far: 20/
More on this in a moment.
Let’s recap so far: 20/
Sleep deficiency correlates with anxiety/PTSD. Our political obsessions create an insatiable appetite (addiction?) for political news delivered by algorithm-addicting social media, read from sleep-depriving blue light emitting screens, or watched on blue light emitting TVs. 21/
Now let’s fold in a new study about ideology, personality, and the propensity to “share” (spread) Fake News:
(I condensed a screen shot of the article for brevity/efficiency of reading) 22/
psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-96…
digest.bps.org.uk/2021/12/08/con…
(I condensed a screen shot of the article for brevity/efficiency of reading) 22/
psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-96…
digest.bps.org.uk/2021/12/08/con…
As the study above indicates, “low conscientious” conservatives were most likely to share fake news.
“Conscientiousness” is one of the personality traits in the Big Five theory of personality.....23/....
“Conscientiousness” is one of the personality traits in the Big Five theory of personality.....23/....
“Conscientiousness”…..reflects the propensity to be self-controlled, responsible to others, hardworking, orderly, and rule abiding… to follow socially prescribed norms for impulse control…and to be able to delay gratification. 25/
(continued...)
oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/o…
(continued...)
oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/o…
Now let’s circle back to the addiction and sleep deficiency components……the pursuit of the addictive behavior (the dopamine component) impairs judgment, even in highly conscientious/responsible people. 26/
Similarly, sleep deficiency affects executive function (judgment) because it “shuts down the cerebral cortex”. In both case judgment (conscientiousness) is impaired, belief is distorted, and that distorted belief is broadcast.
So let’s now tie all of this together….
27/
So let’s now tie all of this together….
27/
….we live in a society where political anarchists use manipulation/exploitation of neuropsychological fight-or-flight fear responses to cause PTSD-like hyper-vigilance that is exacerbated by addiction to dopamine producing “political maybes” and social media algorithms….28/
….that create sleep deprivation……which reinforces the PTSD-like symptoms and impairs judgments/reason/self-control/responsibility….which results in “low conscientiousness”……which results in a higher likelihood of sharing “fake news”……29/
….which feeds the addiction for “political maybes” and conspiracy theories…..which exacerbates people’s PTSD-like hyper-vigilance….which prevents them from sleeping…..which causes them to consume and “share” (spread) more political (fake) “news”…..and rinse and repeat. 30/
For an interesting (bizarre) hypothetical neurobiological twist involving the amygdala & dopamine, and impaired judgment (low conscientiousness), read this thread on toxoplasmosis, & a potential hypothetical connection to political behavior.
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1188463846756962304
Article version of the thread above (no paywall): patreon.com/posts/59842132
A relevant thread from an "integrity worker" on improving social media w/an urban planning-like approach using "integrity design", rather than suppression of content/speech.
Premise: We can't prevent forest fires, but we can mitigate the Santa Ana winds:
Premise: We can't prevent forest fires, but we can mitigate the Santa Ana winds:
https://twitter.com/sayhar/status/1472939930670309390
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