Humanity in the design era, with Marc Silver
In a digital landscape where social media is part of the daily lives of children and adolescents, an increasingly urgent question arises: what happens when the design of these platforms exposes minors to content that can jeopardize their health and well-being? And, above all, how might we redesign these spaces so that the safety of young people is the starting point?
In this episode of Do Better Talks, Liliana Arroyo, Director of the Chair for Socially Responsible Digital Innovation, speaks with Marc Silver, the British director of the documentary Molly vs. The Machines. The film tells the story of Molly Russell, a teenager who took her own life after prolonged exposure to harmful content on Instagram. Drawing on her case, Silver and Arroyo prompt a deeper reflection on the system underpinning social media and the responsibility platforms bear for protecting minors.
The conversation focuses on the incentives that drive social media design. Models based on maximizing engagement encourage users to spend more time on platforms and generate more data, while algorithms prioritize content capable of capturing the most attention. Consequently, the debate extends beyond improving content moderation or adding parental controls; it entails rethinking the foundations of digital design and prioritizing the safety, mental health, and well-being of minors over time spent on the platform.
Adopting a critical and constructive perspective, Marc Silver and Liliana Arroyo invite us to reflect on the role of regulation, such as the European Union’s Digital Services Act, and the need for a social and cultural transformation regarding technology. The conversation thus raises a fundamental question: what kind of technology do we want to build, and what responsibilities are we willing to assume to make it safer and more humane?