Sean Parker is worried Facebook is scrambling kids' brains

Sean Parker.
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Sean Parker did not predict the consequences that Facebook — the company he co-founded — would have on society. Speaking at an Axios event in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Parker admitted that Facebook created a "social-validation feedback loop" that he said exploited "a vulnerability in human psychology."

Parker recalled that in Facebook's nascent period, he believed that even the most ardent social media holdouts would eventually succumb to the urge to participate. The goal of these social media platforms was to "consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible," Parker said, adding that the founders of Instagram and Facebook were well aware that their applications preyed on the human desire for validation and attention.

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Kelly O'Meara Morales

Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.