Summary: Special Note: This episode is running out of order since it’s very timely, and becoming a news story. It was recorded yesterday, after Episode 17 was recorded (as promised, that one is about how to develop Uncommon Sense). So I’m swapping the order, putting #18 out not only before #17, but on Thursday instead of next Monday. Episode 17 will come out at the “regular time” on January 28.<br> In This Episode: The “challenges” we see on Facebook: just a bit of fun? A way to share of yourself to your friends? But when you “challenge” the challenge by applying some Uncommon Sense, you might not want to play along.<br> <br> <a class="twitter-share-button" href="https://twitter.com/share?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Tweet</a><br> <a href="#transcript">Jump to Transcript</a><br> <a href="https://thisistrue.com/category/podcasts/">How to Subscribe and List of All Episodes</a><br> Show Notes<br> <br> * The New York Times on the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/technology/facebook-agrees-to-ftc-settlement-on-privacy.html">2011 Facebook/FTC settlement</a>.<br> * Tech Republic outlines various <a href="https://www.techrepublic.com/article/facebook-data-privacy-scandal-a-cheat-sheet/">Facebook privacy scandals</a>.<br> * Kate O’Neill’s Wired article, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-10-year-meme-challenge/">Facebook’s ‘10 Year Challenge’ Is Just a Harmless Meme — Right?</a><br> * O’Neill’s book, <a href="https://amzn.to/2SYLrNr">Tech Humanist: How you can make technology better for business and better for humans.</a><br> * Update: on January 18, the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/01/18/us-regulators-have-met-discuss-imposing-record-setting-fine-against-facebook-some-its-privacy-violations/">reported</a> that the Federal Trade Commission is “discussing” imposing a “record-setting fine” on Facebook. The previous record was a paltry $22.5 million against another Big Brother — the one I talked about at the end: Google, in 2012.<br> <br> <a name="transcript"></a><br> Transcript<br> The “challenges” we see on Facebook: just a bit of fun? A way to share of yourself to your friends? As I record this, the latest “challenge” on Facebook is sweeping the social platform: post your photo from 10 years ago next to one from now to show how you’ve changed in a decade. Sounds like fun: “everybody” is doing it! But when you “challenge” the challenge by applying some Uncommon Sense, you might not want to play along.<br> Welcome to Uncommon Sense, I’m Randy Cassingham.<br> We never know where these things start: someone gets an idea, posts it, and it resonates with their friends: they post it too, and — with the “seven degrees of separation” concept fully engaged — before long “everyone” sees it. At least, everyone on that particular social platform. Although, such challenges can spread between platforms too: this one seems to be running on Instagram too, which is a subsidiary of Facebook, and Twitter, which isn’t a subsidiary of Facebook …yet.<br> No, I’m not talking about the incredibly obliviotic “Bird Box Challenge” that’s also been going on lately: that’s based on the horror film Bird Box, a “Netflix Original” released in December about people driven to suicide by seeing …something!, so the characters blindfold themselves as they move around — a cinematic exploration of the blind leading the blind. Great: in our “monkey see, monkey do” culture?!<br> Indeed: the bird-brained online “challenge” is to do it in real lif...
