– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Over the past 5 years, social media has

gone through one of the most dramatic

transformations since it began. The

platforms that once promised connection,

community, and a voice for everyone have

devolved into something much more

harmful. Viral stunts, immature pranks,

choreographed dances. Also, heightened

levels of anxiety, depression, and the

disruption of the very fabric of

society. I want to explore why social

media has gotten so much worse recently

and the quiet but growing rebellion

against it that has the very architects

of the system on edge. This video is

sponsored by Headspace. More about them

later. So, I think we can learn a lot

about the problems with social media

today by looking at how Instagram

promotes its own app. If you go to the

login page, it says sign up to see

photos and videos from your friends.

What a load of Anyone that uses

Instagram knows this just isn't true and

is far from the content machine it's

become. But it does give us a clue into

the challenges this company and every

social media platform is facing today

and why the distance is growing between

what people want and what they're

getting. Jack Ki, the co-founder and CEO

of Patreon, has spent years thinking

about the economics of the internet and

has seen from the front lines just how

drastically social media has changed

since it was first introduced.

>> Jack, thank you so much for being here.

Question number one, what the happened

to Instagram?

>> Oh man, what I love that question? Uh,

okay,

here's what happened. Web two sort of

emerged in like 2005. Web two companies

were like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.

The amazing thing about web 2 was you

could like subscribe to a creator. You

could follow them and then you would see

the rest of their work as it came to you

in the future. This was a new thing.

Before web 2, the internet was mostly

read only. Like you log in via AOL or

something and you you like can just like

read the news. But the the amazing thing

about web two was for the first time

like people could upload, they could

share, they could like broadcast their

ideas and the like the most profound

piece of internet architecture came out

at that time uh you know that came out

at the time was was this thing called

the follow.

>> As Jack explained it, the follow gave

you the power. You decided who you

liked, who you wanted to hear from, and

who you wanted to fill your feed. It

felt like your corner of the internet, a

personalized space built around real

connections and genuine interests. I

only subscribe to people and watch

videos that make me happy, inspire me,

make me feel positive, uplift me.

>> But that version of social media didn't

last. The idealistic vision was great

for users, but not for investors. Once

these platforms went public, they faced

a new challenge. How do you turn

connection into profit? We all know what

happened next. Social platforms started

to run ads and ads made them a lot of

money. So, they scaled the model. Grow

larger. Show more ads. Get more users.

Show more ads. Hold users attention for

longer. Show more ads. Get more data on

who your customer is, their hopes,

fears, and dreams. Sell more expensive

ads. The customer of Facebook is the

advertiser. And what the advertiser

wants from consumers is attention. And

what Facebook has built is a machine

that converts

attention into revenue. That is the

Facebook machine. Everything about the

financial system is set up to hold

Facebook accountable for revenue growth.

What that does is it aims the entire

financial system, hundreds of years of

financial infrastructure. It aims that

entire system of accountability and

discipline at sucking attention away

from humanity. That's the problem. That

is the problem.

>> You say these things like they are my

fault and yet they are not. Well, you

did create a platform with a monetary

incentive for people to spread

misinformation.

[Laughter]

>> Bo Burnham recently summed it up well.

Tech companies aren't satisfied with

just a piece of your time. They want it

all. They are now trying to colonize

every minute of your life. That is what

these people are trying to do. Every

single free moment you have is a moment

you could be looking at your phone and

they could be gathering information to

target ads at you. that that's what's

happening.

>> When the biggest tech companies in the

world are competing for your attention,

they'll design features that exploit

every human vulnerability they can find.

Even the smallest change can have a

really big impact, like infinite scroll.

No, not a never-ending pastry, something

much more nefarious. Before this feature

existed, websites had pages, natural

breaks that let you decide whether to

keep going or to stop. In 2006,

interface designer Asa Rascin came up

with an idea to replace those breaks

with a neverending feed. What seemed

like a small improvement quickly became

one of the most influential changes in

how we use the internet today. Without a

stopping point and an endless stream of

content, this simple feature can quietly

steal hundreds of hours from your life

every year. Asa himself says he regrets

creating it. I was blind to how it was

going to get picked up and used, not for

people, but against people. And this was

actually a huge lesson for me that me

sitting here optimizing an interface for

one individual is sort of like that's

that's that's that was morally good. But

being blind to how it was going to be

used

globally was sort of globally amoral at

best or maybe even a little immoral. In

a world where apps rise and fall

overnight, the social media giants have

learned to move fast or risk becoming

the next MySpace. When a feature works

on one platform, it doesn't stay there

for long. It's copied, repackaged, and

rolled out everywhere. We've seen this

happen with pretty much every fast

growing app from Snapchat to Be Real and

of course,

>> Tik Tok.

>> Tik Tok.

>> Tik Tok.

>> Tik Tok.

>> Tik Tok explodes in popularity.

>> It's surging in popularity here in the

US.

>> 15-year-old Charlie Dio's new favorite

pastime is making up dance moves for the

social media app Tik Tok. This group of

20 talented content creators is part of

a growing trend of young social media

stars snapping up big real estate so

they can physically be together to make

videos 24/7.

>> We're definitely like the two most

hated. Definitely

>> the most cringiest.

>> Like they're literally call blueberry

cuz their hair is blue.

>> Yeah.

>> And then I'm orange. They're like, "Oh

my god, the orange and the blueberry."

>> What has happened over the last 5 years

is really profound. Tik Tok came onto

the scene and Tik Tok's major innovation

I think people think oh Tik Tok is is

vertical first short form video but

that's not Tik Tok's major innovation I

think that's a red herring what what Tik

Tok did that was truly different and

innovative was Tik Tok said oh you know

these concepts of feeds that people are

using where you have your followers and

you scroll through a feed and you see

people you follow Tik Tok said forget

about following we're going to rebuild

your feed from scratch based on who we

think you're going to the like not who

you've chosen to follow, but what the

platform thinks you will spend time on,

and we're going to optimize it for time

spent. While Tik Tok didn't invent the

algorithmic feed, they did crack the

code on virality. For years, your feed

was shaped by who you chose to follow.

Tik Tok removed that control entirely,

replacing it with a feed that didn't

care about your social graph. Instead,

every scroll was another data point,

teaching the algorithm exactly what you

would keep watching. The most successful

video I had right now was like at 68

million views right now.

>> I'm sorry, 68 million views.

>> Yeah, it's just me like turning into

like a monster.

>> Now, if it had just been Tik Tok that

did that, we all would have just left

Tik Tok and and that would have been the

end of the story. But the thing is it

worked. Um, and by it worked, I mean Tik

Tok built a very addictive

consumer experience that people couldn't

tear themselves out of. And so traffic

sort of siphoned off of Instagram and

Facebook and all the other social apps

and onto Tik Tok. And all the other

social apps saw this

and felt pressure to get traffic back.

And the way that they did that was by

also ditching the follow in their

systems and by building for you feeds.

>> Tik Tok might say that its for you feed

democratized the internet. Suddenly,

anyone could reach millions regardless

of their follower count. And

simultaneously, viewers could discover

creators they'd never heard of. On the

surface, it looks like a win-win. But in

reality, this change had far worse

consequences. In Johan Har's bestselling

book, Stolen Focus, he documents exactly

what went wrong when these platforms

rolled out these kinds of feeds.

>> The algorithm is neutral about the

question of whether it wants you to be

calm or angry. That's not its concern.

It only cares about one thing. Will you

keep scrolling? Unfortunately, there's a

quirk of human behavior. On average, we

will stare at something negative and

outrageous for a lot longer than we will

stare at something positive and calm.

>> Go like this.

>> No, Mom. She's seriously

>> No, I know, but go like this for the

video.

>> Social media has turned into a model

that serves the platforms more than the

creators or the audience. And as a

result, people are starting to turn

against it and they don't have any plans

to come back. So for me, when it comes

to incorporating technology into my

life, it's not about getting off the

grid and living in a cave. It's about

finding balance. I want technology to

add value to my life, to help me find

purpose, meaning, get clarity, and help

quiet those late night thoughts about

the rise of fascism, the collapse of the

global economy, and the possibility that

this country might be run by lizard

people. That's where my sponsor,

Headspace, comes in. It's the everyday

mental health app designed to reduce

stress, improve sleep, and boost

happiness. And right now you can get it

for free for 60 days by using my unique

link. That's headspace.com/mattella.

That's 60 days free. It's a pretty

awesome deal if I do say so myself. I

started using Headspace because I was

looking for a buffer between my work and

my personal life. As a dad and business

owner, I'm always non-stop running from

one task to the next. Headspace gives me

a moment of clarity in my day,

especially when I'm trying to switch

gears, like from changing diapers to

writing videos

or from putting my son to sleep to

reading a book.

My favorite tracks are for meditation.

You can choose your own teacher, Andy's

my guy, and set how much time you have.

Even just 5 minutes can change my whole

mood after a long day. They've also got

tracks to help you sleep better and for

focus. Perfect for studying, working, or

making a YouTube video about how Mark

Zuckerberg might be a lizard. Sorry,

that's right. I told Headspace I

wouldn't call Mark Zuckerberg a lizard

in this video. He's totally a lizard. Go

to headspace.com/mattella

or click the link in the description

below this video to get your 60-day free

trial of Headspace today. Seriously, go

do that now. Like, you would be an idiot

not to take that deal. An idiot.

Probably shouldn't call you guys idiots.

It's not good form.

It's really easy to romanticize the

past. Social media was never this

perfect beacon of civilization. Early

on, it gave us internet stalking,

endless cringe, and yeah, a couple

beheading videos. But it's gotten

objectively worse. Even as we see an

explosion of creativity with independent

creators producing thoughtful,

hilarious, and inspiring work, these

voices are often getting drowned out by

professional grifters, fast-moving

trends, high production clickbait, and

AI generated content, most of which are

surfacing above the people that we chose

to follow in the first place. What was

once pitched as a town square now feels

more like reality TV on crack. Meta

itself admitted during the FTC trial

recently that just 7% of time spent on

Instagram in 2025 is spent viewing

content from friends. I think social

media has become less social like it's

more about just consuming this kind of

highly commodified content and it's more

about lifestyle aspiration things that

you are moving toward in your own life

not just like what's going on around you

and how are you relating to your friends

and family. I mean to me that kind of

removes the purpose of social media.

This trend of pushing viral content over

personal connections has led to more

profit in the short term. But there's a

huge problem. Even though the usage

numbers are still high, public sentiment

is turning against Tik Tok and

Instagram. People are starting to hate

it.

>> I've been in a few dark places in my

life and a lot of it was influenced by

social comparison of social media.

>> I was getting to the point with social

media where I felt completely detached

from reality. I was more irritated with

my daughter. I was comparing my marriage

to other people's marriage. I felt more

insecure about my face, my hair, my

body.

>> According to a recent poll, twothirds of

16 to 24 year olds think social media

does more harm than good. Plus, half

think that they spent too much time on

it when they were younger. As journalist

Gabby Hinsliff wrote, "This isn't how

someone talks about something they love,

but how you look back on a relationship

that was in retrospect making you

miserable." There's a fundamental

mismatch between the way our brains are

wired and this behavior of exposing

yourself to stimuli with intermittent

rewards throughout all of your waking

hours. So, it's one thing to spend a

couple hours at the slot machine in Las

Vegas, but if you bring a slot machine

with you and you pull that handle all

day long from when you wake up to when

you go to bed, we're not wired from it.

It shortcircuits the brain. And we're

starting to find that it has actual

cognitive consequences. One of them

being the sort of pervasive background

hum of anxiety. I don't understand how

the current model even works. Like, it

doesn't make sense to me because I speak

to very few people that say, "Oh, I love

Instagram. Oh, it's a joy. I open up

Instagram every day and just like it's a

blast scrolling through." How does this

all work? Like, why are people using

these platforms if they're making them

miserable? There is a difference between

what we value

and what we attend to.

That is the core of the pain we're

feeling. is that we will pay attention

to lots of things that aren't important

to us, that don't bring our lives

meaning and joy, that don't better us

over the long term, that don't enable

and help our brains and psyches and make

us feel good and strong and better.

We'll pay attention to all kinds of [ __ ]

that is not good for us. I know what the

[ __ ] is going on. I work at Patreon. I

work at a tech company. I've seen these

systems from the inside.

I personally had to set a time limit on

Instagram on my phone to stop myself

from going. I had to set a 10-minute

time limit. And I I do that now. And I

don't give myself more than 10 minutes.

Like, I had to draw a hard line because

these systems are so powerful. I

remember when I did my first social

media detox back in 2018. I quit all the

apps for 30 days. At the time, this was

still considered pretty new, if not

socially unacceptable. You really felt

like you were going to miss out on what

your friends were up to. It's different

now. Now, you're only missing out on

some viral trends and a quick hit of

dopamine. Digital detoxes and social

media cleanses aren't fringe anymore.

They're everywhere. Minimalist phones

and dumb apps are getting more and more

popular. Concerts and venues are asking

people to put their phones in bags or

cover their cameras with stickers to

encourage people to be more present. Put

your phones away.

>> In real life, organizations and groups

like the offline club are popping up

everywhere, encouraging people to ditch

their phones and meet in person. And a

lot more people, myself included, are

going one step further and deleting

these apps outright.

>> I want to get my life back. And I feel

like the only way to do this is to break

up with the internet.

>> I've decided to basically quit social

media.

>> No Instagram, no Tik Tok, no Twitter,

nothing. I don't have social media. I'm

better than you. I'm frolicking in the

woods, scavenging ingredients to make my

life whole.

>> The growing push back and the rising

dissatisfaction among users is a serious

problem for social platforms. None of

them want people to dislike or regret

their experience, but they can't help

themselves. They're caught between

satisfying users and generating profit.

And within a system built for endless

growth, their choice is always going to

be for the latter. the one thing that

might stop them is if this push back

grows enough to hurt their bottom line.

>> That it's already part of the public

consciousness and the public

conversation. So it seems to me that

we're in this pivotal moment for

for for humans right now. If I really

step back, I I actually have a lot of

hope. And I have hope because humanity's

only been trying to figure this out for

two decades. Like the internet is brand

new and and it's it's pervasive and

dramatic and it represents a massive

change for human communication and

organization. It's going to take humans

a little while to figure that out.

Thanks so much to Jack for sitting down

to chat with me for this video. Check

out the links in the description to

learn more about what he's up to. And

thanks again to Headspace. Don't forget

to grab 60 days free with my link

headspace.com/mattella.

Thanks for watching and see you next

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
algorithm /ˈælɡəˌrɪðəm/ C1	noun - a step‑by‑step set of rules used by computers to solve problems
platform /ˈplæt.fɔːrm/ B2	noun - an online service that hosts and shares digital content
attention /əˈtenʃn/ B2	noun - the act of focusing mental effort on something
viral /ˈvaɪ.rəl/ B2	adjective - spreading quickly and widely on the internet
addictive /əˈdɪk.tɪv/ B2	adjective - causing a strong desire to keep using something
influence /ˈɪn.flu.əns/ B2	noun - the power to affect someone's thoughts or actions verb - to have an effect on something or someone
engagement /ɪnˈɡeɪdʒ.mənt/ C1	noun - the level of interaction and commitment of users with content
feed /fiːd/ B1	noun - a continuously updating list of posts shown to a user verb - to supply a user’s feed with new content
scroll /skroʊl/ B1	verb - to move displayed content up or down on a screen
detox /ˈdiː.tɒks/ B2	noun - a period of abstaining from digital devices to reduce stress
content /ˈkɒn.tent/ B2	noun - information, images, video, or other media shared online
creator /kriˈeɪ.tər/ B2	noun - a person who produces original digital media for an audience
monetization /ˌmɒnɪtɪˈzeɪʃən/ C1	noun - the process of generating revenue from a service or product
mental /ˈmen.təl/ B1	adjective - relating to the mind or intellectual processes
stress /stres/ B1	noun - a state of mental or emotional pressure
community /kəˈmjʊ.nɪ.ti/ B2	noun - a group of people who share interests or belong to the same social network
distraction /dɪˈstræk.ʃən/ B2	noun - something that diverts attention away from a task
privacy /ˈpraɪ.və.si/ B2	noun - the right to keep personal information from being disclosed
revenue /ˈrev.ən.juː/ B2	noun - the income generated from selling goods or services
habit /ˈhæb.ɪt/ B1	noun - a regular, often unconscious pattern of behavior