Syed Wajid
Social media business models thrive on addiction and attention.AI tools generating thought-less content have further altered how we behave, stripping away critical analysis from our digital behavior. Are the algorithms working behind the scenes driving our behavior or are we driving the behavior of algorithms? Will tech giants make their systems responsible at the cost of their profits or will we take the responsibility to correct our own behavior? WHO Europe report found that 11% of all adolescents show severe signs of problematic so-cial media behavior, with girls significantly outnumbering boys at 13% vs. 9%. Among young adults (ages 18–24), a staggering 73% believe social media has actively damaged their mental health. Furthermore, 44% of parents globally cite social media as the single greatest negative influence on their children’s well-being.
ChatGPT dominates the generative AI market with over 1 billion monthly active users, while Google Gemini at second place has reached 900 million users, with other specialized platforms like Claude, Grok and Perplexity expanding user bases between 40 and 56 million monthly users and the numbers are growing significantly.
As of 2026, up to 90% of all online content is projected to be synthetically generated or AI-assisted by the end of the year [IsTheInternetAI.com]. AI-generated material now accounts for 39.5% of posts on LinkedIn, 59% of video formats on platforms like TikTok and a stag-gering 71% of all social media imagery, with automated children’s channels hitting 97% synthetic saturation. Where these tools are being used for increased efficiency and extended skills to improve economic and physical wellbeing, access to these tools at a large scale is also producing synthetic garbage and AI slops – low quality and effortless based content, lacking human thought, awareness and consciousness, polluting social media resulting in mental pollution and lethargy equally in children and youth.
As reliance on these tools increases so does the probability of cognitive offload by humans to these tools relying on processed information rather than well thought, critically analyzed information through a cognitive process of one’s own. The problem is further aggravated when hidden codes and instructions planted by hackers and cyber criminals generate inappropriate content such as political, religious and social threats to the whole community. Measures to combat the threats depend on multiple factors including topography, political and social factors, local economy and its dependence on global economy, population, educa-tion, awareness and much more. Countries like China, Russia, North Korea simply prefer digital sovereignty and state security over human rights and corporate ethics. The state controls the data infrastructure, limits outside digital influences and heavily filters what its citizens can see or say.
On the other end of the spectrum states can adopt no policy at all and let foreign apps colo-nize the digital space. Least developed countries lacking basic infrastructure and resources such as Chad, South Sudan and Yemen can be taken as an example.
In the middle of spectrum fall countries like European Union and Australia which take a balanced approach through well-defined legislative frameworks pushing tech companies to make their algorithms safer as well as taking massive measures to educate public. Critical data related to national security is localized and protected through legislation and local infrastructure. Pakistan has its owngeopolitical, economic, cultural and local political challenges within which policies and legislations to combat the threats within digital space and protect its digital sovereignty as well as mass populace are devised. Starting with aggressive and authoritarian measures which backlashed due to its high dependency on foreign income, number of measures such as AI Policy, Cloud First Policy, Digital Nation Act, formation of Pakistan Digital Authority has been made and few implemented. These policies are in infancy stage; results are yet to be seen. Consistent efforts to push data localization and tech giants such as Google, META and X (Twitter) to have local presence are being met with resistance. As a safer estimate we can achieve digital sovereignty to an extent but dependency on foreign high-tech giants will al-ways remain. Technology always spreads faster than our awareness of its harm. Innocence, ignorance and unawareness have been monetized for centuries. In today’s Brave New World, technology has made it possible to monetize our digital presence and human nature at a scale never imagined before, impacting children, youth and adults, whether educated or uneducated, urban or rural, equally. You, my reader, who have come all the way to this point, are the real hope. Whatever role or profession we have, as parents, friends and active members of society, our responsibility must be to protect ourselves and others from the harm of this necessary evil we face today. Only responsible citizens can alter the behavior of algorithms by behaving responsibly in the digital space we live in.
The writer is Telecom and IT expert with 30 plus years of experience and can be reached at [email protected]
