Technologist Suggests Meta Trial-Judge Review 97 Year-Old Letter as It Relates to the Damage Done by Social Media to Today's Children
The Californer/10355436

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - Californer -- A 1929 letter written by William Seabury, former General Council to the Motion Picture Industry, that preceded Hollywood's Voluntary 1934 Hays Code, to the Oregon Supreme Court, which spoke about the dangers of media content on children, is still relevant today and suggests the dire necessity for a similar code to protect our youngest and most vulnerable citizens, from today's social media platforms.

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." Nelson Mandela, May 1995

Peter Mackeonis, a California-based technologist would like to refer, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers,  to a 1929 letter that "echoes today's dire situation, in regards to children and the negative effects of social media."

This private letter from William Seabury, author of the 1929 Book, Motion Picture Problems, The Cinema and The League of Nations, summarizes his findings and demonstrates his stance on the potentially dangerous effects of media on children. The letter is addressed to the Hon. Kenneth R. Mcintosh, at the Temple of Justice, Olympia, warning of the impact and resulting negative consequences of motion pictures, on the youth of America. And per the passage below, we have a parallel situation today:

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Social Media and the Damage Done:

Technologist, Peter Mackeonis commented, "My 40-year technology career started in the early PC days of 1984 as the marketing director of MetaComCo, the software language company I co-founded with friends, and as a website developer since 1994 I have watched social media exert a increasingly negative and influential force on the world's children, from toddlers to teens. It is generally accepted within the medical community that excessive social media use amongst children is linked to higher rates of anxiety, depression, poor sleep quality and negative body image. Spending more than three hours a day on-line doubles the risk of mental health issues, compounded by cyberbullying and a constant fear of missing out on what their peers are doing (FOMO). As parents' smart phones and social media platforms attempt 'age-restriction' technology, they seem incapable of controlling damaging content, so we maybe we need to look at the other end of the telescope and impose a stricter code of publishing ethics on these platforms."

Members' Freedom of Expression:

While no doubt imposing restrictions on social media platforms will be seen, by many, as over- regulation and interfering with freedom of speech, the argument for such action is justified by the platforms themselves, as while they continue to say they are doing everything they can to remedy the situation, it has been stated by many former tech employees that instead of getting serious about this issue, their focus continues to be on making their sites more 'sticky.'

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Section 20 Protection:

The argument that social media is being protected against prosecution by Section 20 of Communications Decency Act  is negated by their employing algorithms that disregard the safety of the methods, for their shareholder's benefit, so, if the platforms will not change their attitudes and have the home-grown AI tools at their disposal, then their attitudes have to be changed for them.

Past Solution: The Hays Code 1934-1978

In 1931, the Motion Picture Industry, influenced by the letter of, William Seabury, was forward thinking, or sufficiently logical, which seems completely absent in today's 'stewards,' to understand the need of a voluntarily introduced, 'Hays Code,' for production standards.

In Closing:

As, Nelson Mandela, stated when he launched the 'Children's Fund' in South Africa, in May 1995, "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children."

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Email: comments to Peter@Mackeonis.com, or text through WhatsApp on 1.831.840.3729.

.pdf version of this PR release including images of the letter can be downloaded at:
https://www.TheStreetWallJournal.com/marston/NEWS.RELEASE.social.media.production.code.pdf