At Cambridge, almost two decades ago, Diego Hidalgo (Paris, 40 years old) discovered that Facebook, instead of connecting us, separated us. As a teenager, he had already witnessed how the tyranny of email stole hours of play with his family. A childhood memory that marked him forever. Today, fighting against the technological giants has become his life’s mission. A quixotic cause in which his mind as a sociologist contrasts with the irrational nature of his other profession, that of a magician, with which he surprises audiences in the lectures he gives around the world.
Ask. Do magic and technology have anything in common?
Answer. Yes, in many ways. Magicians steal the public’s attention just like digital technology does. In addition, we make the spectator think that they are free to make decisions when in reality it is the magician who determines them. I will prove it to you. [Busca en su mochila, saca una baraja de póker, manda a la periodista elegir una carta y hace un truco].
P. In his new book Regain control (Cataract) He says that Google makes decisions for us all the time.
R. We think we are choosing from an infinite menu, but in reality it guides us towards different options. The massive exploitation of data allows technology companies to build predictive models and to know our cognitive weaknesses. This makes us more easily manipulated when it comes to selling us products, services or ideologies…
P. Do we live in some kind of Truman Show in which we are constantly under surveillance?
R. The difference is that now we are all Truman.
Digital technology anesthetizes us, limits our freedom and simplifies us as a species”
P. For example, he advocates banning the use of mobile phones in bars, as was the case with tobacco…
R. Yeah, well, that’s more of a provocation. [se ríe]but I think that collective action is needed at the individual and political level to get ahead of the regulation. There are certainly enough arguments to prohibit the sale of mobile phones until the age of majority, as is the case with gambling halls or alcohol.
P. What is the difference between a marijuana addiction and a screen addiction?
R. The second is socially accepted. It is shared by almost 100% of society and that is why it is much more difficult to realize that it is not normal to accept the harm it causes us.
P. Many parents talk about the social pressure they feel if they are the only ones in their class who do not give their children a mobile phone…
R. That is why banning their sale to teenagers would empower them. The way they use mobile phones is like having 14-year-olds driving cars without a license and at 160 kilometres per hour, with the danger that this entails for themselves and for others.
P. A few months ago, the United Kingdom considered banning them for children under 16. Isn’t that a difficult political decision for a government to make?
R. Yes, but in the end this is like climate change. A challenge for democracies in the long term when politics lives in the short term. The regulatory framework for technology should be similar to that of the pharmaceutical and agri-food industries.
The way minors use mobile phones is like having 14-year-olds driving cars without a license”
P. He dedicates the book to his children, from Generation Z, with this phrase: “So that you can continue choosing happiness and freedom as opposed to immediacy and efficiency.” Are we slaves to technology?
R. Of course, because they are designed to anesthetize us. I believe in the right to make mistakes and to have criteria other than those of the algorithms. We are increasingly asking Google broader questions: what gift to buy, how to be a better parent, what to do with my children on vacation… And that limits our freedom.
P. And it infantilizes us…
R. Yes, it simplifies us as a species. As we delegate power to devices or apps, we are less able to exercise it ourselves. For example, if you can no longer get anywhere without looking at your GPS, you are accepting an ecosystem in which you are increasingly dependent.
P. Are you worried about your children’s future?
R. I am worried about the world they will inhabit because the relationship between screens and high rates of anxiety and depression in adolescents is more than proven. I have three sons, but the psychological impact that social media is having on girls is much more worrying than on boys. In the United States, self-harm among girls has increased sixfold in the last twelve years.
P. Do you limit screen use at home?
R. Absolutely. I don’t completely remove them from technology, but I want to give them a healthy, guided and controlled relationship so that they learn to use it without it using them.
P. In today’s technologically omnipresent landscape, your cause sounds quixotic. Do you encounter many doubters?
R. When I published Anesthetized (Catarata, 2021), my first book on the subject, I thought I was going to receive a lot more criticism, but I think that as a society we are increasingly aware that we are facing a very worrying phenomenon.
P. What do you think of those who call you a technophobe?
R. I identify more with the term technocritic because I believe that technology can be used to do interesting things. I myself have been a digital entrepreneur and founded Amovens [la primera plataforma para compartir coche en España]There is a very clear scientific basis for the risks of the technological revolution and we should not enter into dogmatism, as is also the case with climate change.
P. Your mobile is an old Nokia with no internet access. Do you think you are happier than those who are reading this interview from your home? smartphone?
R. Happiness depends on many factors, but it may be because delegating our lives to machines impoverishes our life experience. If we continue to hand over our lives to algorithms that dictate our decisions, we will lose freedom and stop interacting deeply with others. And these are two key elements for happiness.
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