Redesigning Social Media to Eradicate Addiction

Question

For the final paper, you will write either:

• A paper arguing for a particular personal policy relating to technology (it’s

usage, consumption, etc.)

o Argue for a position on what you (or other individuals) should

be doing (or not doing) when using technology.

o For example, your thesis might answer the question “Should I

be filtering my Facebook feed?”

• A paper arguing for a general social policy relating to technology (it’s

usage, production, etc.)

o Argue for a position on what we, as a society, should be doing

(or not doing) related to companies producing, maintaining, or

marketing technological “products.”

o For instance, your thesis might answer the question “Should

we ban the use of infinite scroll?”

Pick one of these two types of paper.

Whichever topic you choose for this paper, you need to do these four things:

1. Include a clear thesis in your introduction

2. Explain the relevant views/positions

3. Give an original argument for your thesis

4. Give and explain one strong potential objection to your argument

and defend your argument against the objection

You had to do the first two things for our midterm paper. So, it's a good idea to

review the comments on your first paper to better understand how to do those

things well. We’ll talk more specifically about how to do 3 & 4 during class.

For this paper, you can write on any of these topics:

1. Metacognition

2. Nudging

3. Addiction and Tech design

4. Big data

5. Echo chambers and social bubbles

6. Echo chambers and social bubbles

7. Algorithmic bias

8. Transhumanism

If you have any questions about potential topics—or anything else related to writing

papers—please don’t hesitate to ask.