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Every generation since the start of the 20th Century has been on the brink of doom. World War I was the war to end all wars, the Roaring 20’s brought about prohibition which worsened organized crime. The Great Depression and dust bowl were catastrophic and ushered us into the second great war. Television created an evil never-before-seen gyrations like Elvis thrusting his hips on Ed Sullivan. More wars, rock music, and mind enhancing drugs in combination with Peace, Love, and Anti-War. Vietnam, Watergate, and the distrust of government. MTV glorifying sex, drugs, and Rock & Roll was the nail in the coffin. Spring break debauchery, violent movies, explicit lyrics, and a 24-hour news cycle.

That was all before the internet.

In the 21st Century we have smartphones, emails, and video chats that connect us in an instant. We can research a given subject at any given time and have a quick and simplified answer in seconds.

The current doomsday warning hits a bit different though.

Last summer I watched the movie Oppenheimer, based on J. Robert Oppenheimer and the development of the atomic bomb. My takeaway from that movie was a conversation where Oppenheimer is talking to Leslie Groves, an Army Corps of Engineers Officer. Groves says, “Are you saying that when we push that button… we destroy the world?”
Oppenheimer replies, “Near zero.”
Groves asks, “Near zero?”
Oppenheimer asks, “What do you want from theory alone?”
Groves, “Zero would be nice!”

That interaction and the hell atomic weapons unleash are compounded when there are those technological advances in the hands of the wrong people, bad actors if you will. The outcomes can be cataclysmic and irreparable. That movie was about a bomb developed nearly 80 years ago and those same dangers exist today.

Now multiply the ability to share misinformation and disinformation around the world in seconds for the sole purpose to weaken and divide people and to cause chaos. That’s on the transmission of information side of technology.

There are mental health issues facing people and their ability to feel beautiful or accepted. How many followers do you have? How many likes do you have? Do you a Facebook, Twitter, X, SnapChat, Tic Tok, or Instagram? Are you plugged in?

True there were warnings that rock music would rot your brain and TV would make us all lazy, but the fact is those things didn’t impose a long-term danger like big tech poses. Massive amounts of money equals an even larger amount of power, and with that power they know you better than you know yourself.

This dire warning hits different because back before the internet and social media, it seemed we still had feel will over our choices. Now it seems like the choices are made before we even open an app, and that’s the real danger.