Taking a deeper dive into Rep Hawley and his vision of technology policy. No surprises, he conflates time spent on a device with pathology and addition. He seems to be working on legislation with the Center for Humane Technology: https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/7/31/20748732/josh-hawley-smart-act-social-media-addiction

But, this is a good example of why lawmakers are afraid to pass regulation about technology. This policy is not based on academic research and asserts baseless claims that people are addicted to devices. One psychologist calls the bill a “silly and practically unworkable idea.”

Further, there is no input from community based orgs or advocacy groups about what kinds of technology regulation is needed to protect them and support alternative media. Nothing about the business model incentivizing disinformation, scams, and hoaxes.

It is reminiscent of big tobacco using junk science to clog the policy pipeline with the WRONG debate. If we think the problem with social media is about individual's time on a device, then we don't see platforms' dominance in the economy or the harms of misinformation-at-scale.

There's going to be a lot of these misdirections in the next few years. My advice: