Rather than “ban all games” or “abandon all social media”, maybe it’s time tech started using a QMP and HACCP approach (for those of you not steeped in manufacturing, QMP is Quality Management Plan and HACCP is Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point).
For example, in your kitchen, an identifiable hazard might be raw chicken which carries a risk of Salmonella. Rather than abandoning the idea of ever having chicken ever again, you create control points to manage the hazard: you use a separate cutting board for the chicken and vegetables, you prep the other items first and you wash all contact surfaces and utensils with hot soapy water and possibly a foodsafe sanitizer.
As hazards are identified, you identity control points for that hazard. If games or social media contain a hazard that allows for the translation of hate into violence, you don’t give up on ever having games or social media – you build in controls. Things like a robust moderation system that is capable of being flexible, to avoid false positives (such as banning an anti-violence activist under a policy meant to deter violence, or a victim reacting to her harrassment under a policy meant to deter harrassment). You actively work on recognizing the hazards in your corporate culture – especially those at the top determining what that corporate culture is. You listen to the outside criticism telling you about hazards, do a Root Cause Analysis to determine what needs fixing (is it the game, or is it a disproportionate level of toxic behavior in the community? What can be done to control or counter that toxic behaviour? What is driving that behaviour? Can some of that be fixed? Can we remove the social feedback loops?).
Rather than going “well, we’re not sociologists/psychologists/historians, this is outside our scope”, do what other industries do when they run into areas where they aren’t subject matter experts: bring in those who are.
Recognize the difference between “stakeholders” and “shareholders” and listen to the former at least as much as the latter. Instead of the view that old, established industries are moribund, consider how they became established in the first place.
There’s a reason a 2019 Honda Civic is safer than a Model-T, despite the much greater hazard of other drivers than when the Model-T was introduced. Rather, it’s because of that hazard – recognizing and controlling it. Maybe tech could learn from that, instead of trying to jam us all into Civics with the brakes and steering of a Model-T.
