What’s distracting humanity from addressing climate change

[H simmens]



Yesterday I posted a series of cognitive habits that have been shown to improve one’s ability to forecast the future - a useful skill for those of us attempting to change the climate paradigm. 

Today I’m proposing that we pay attention and address another aspect of the climate change puzzle - the built-in addictions of the smart phone/ social media ecosystems that influence the behavior of most everyone. 

I’m told that about 25 billion hours are spent looking at smartphones each and every day - about 40% of our waking hours. 

Below is the response I received when I asked Grok about the influence of smartphones on effective climate action:

Overall Degree of Role in Distraction and Inaction

To a substantial degree – perhaps 30-50% of the explanation for inadequate action, alongside factors like fossil fuel lobbying, economic interests, and political polarization. The distraction effect makes abstract, delayed threats less salient, while misinformation actively undermines consensus. Even influential people are immersed in the same digital environment, where short-term outrage or entertainment dominates feeds. However, the same tools enable activism, so the net effect is mixed but tilting negative due to algorithmic biases toward engagement over accuracy.

Evidence justifies concern: without the smartphone/social media era, public discourse might sustain focus on systemic issues better, similar to pre-digital environmental movements. Addressing this requires not just climate policy, but reforms to the attention economy itself (e.g., reducing addictive features).”

Much progress was made this year in addressing the addiction of young people and children. Whether that has or will have an effect on the rest of us remains to be seen as well as whether these reforms will accelerate the efforts by young people to address climate change. 

This post describes the extraordinary progress that was made. 

Happy new year to everyone including new members of HPAC - both those who offer to clean our ductwork and especially to those here to take action to restore a safe and healthy climate.

Herb

Herb Simmens
Author of A Climate Vocabulary of the Future

“A SciencePoem and an Inspiration.” Kim Stanley Robinson
@herbsimmens
HerbSimmens.com

[Bruce Melton -- Austin, Texas]

Was that the entire response? Starting with an incomplete sentence? What was the exact query?

Smartphone addiction certainly has negative side effects, but they are a relatively new and unique method of influencing that should be embraced for the possibilities. I have stumbled upon a truth in social media, that persistent posting with images and written content can, eventually, lead to viral views. Since my last filming trip in October, I have been publishing regularly on Insta, that autoposts to FB. My views have steadily risen from the low 100s to 4,000 with one post day before yesterday and the rise is nonlinear. Hopefully, my posts will be in the 100s of thousand s of views category soon. 

This is absolutely huge and likely the only way the restoration movement is going to get anywhere without unilateral action via a single decision maker. Phones are the go to for news these days, wildly dominating the news market directly and through social media.

MeltOn

Bruce Melton PE
Director, Climate Change Now Initiative, 501c3
President, Melton Engineering Services Austin
8103 Kirkham Drive
Austin, Texas 78736
(512)799-7998
ClimateDiscovery.org
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Twitter - BruceCMelton1 

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[rob de laet]

Happy New Year Herb and everyone, 

Thank you all for what you are doing. 

May 2026 be a year the world is waking up to our solutions to fight the existential crisis on our beautiful, living but damaged planet Earth, 

Warm regards from India. 

Rob de Laet 

Project Lead Cooling the Climate

Member of the EcoRestoration Alliance

Fellow of Global Evergreening Alliance

Fellow fo the Schumacher Institute

Planetary Solvency Taskforce

Co-founder of Senang Eco Services

WhatsApp: +55 71 992617846

[John Nissen]

Those who exert authority on climate change show no sympathy for the young people of today, who are going to suffer most from the consequences of inaction.  Planetary restoration puts young people first: the objective is to return the planet to a safe, sustainable, biodiverse and productive state.  Nothing should stand in the way.

Unfortunately a scientific analysis of the situation shows that SAI is urgently needed, particularly for refreezing the Arctic, while SAI remains very unpopular among the climate élite for a host of reasons.  One hopes that loving concern for young people will change priorities such that SAI intervention is accepted.

Happy New Year, everyone

John

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/healthy-planet-action-coalition/544785652.5964148.1767235654184%40mail.yahoo.com.