ALGORITHMS ARE THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL –
Mar. 1, 2022 – Biden wants to “stop discriminatory algorithmic decision-making that limits opportunities for young Americans,” the White House said. “When a girl searches for jobs online, platforms will too often push her away from fields like engineering that historically have excluded women,” the fact sheet contended. “Searches for ‘Black girls,’ ‘Asian girls,’ or ‘Latina girls’ too often return harmful content, including pornography, rather than role models, toys, or activities.” “Two out of five adults report symptoms of anxiety or depression. And, Black and Brown communities are disproportionately under-treated — even as their burden of mental illness has continued to rise. Even before the pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety were inching higher. But the grief, trauma, and physical isolation of the last two years have driven Americans to a breaking point.”
Although criticism of Big Tech platforms often is bipartisan — with both Biden and former President Donald Trump supporting changes to Section 230 immunity for third-party content — Republicans are more likely to blame US mental health woes on issues such as the mandatory masking of students and remote learning due to COVID-19. “I had another parent who shared with me [that] their daughter, they used to be an all-A student, is now a mostly ‘C’ student because they wear glasses and the school has gone from a joy to complete misery,” Miyares added. “And another parent of a school–age child said how excited their child was, their daughter was, that for the very first time, they could see what their best friend from school actually looks like. I mean, think about the mental health crisis as well [and the effect] that we’re having on our kids.”
