Ashton Kutcher has a simple fix for anger on social media

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Ashton Kutcher has tons of ideas on social media, 5G, and more.

Richard Peterson/CNET

Let’s face it, social media can be a big mess. You don’t have to look hard to find a hotbed of insults and inflammatory comments, which are constantly escalating. Actor and tech investor Ashton Kutcher has a sneaky little way to reduce at least some of that toxicity, and it has to do with the Like button.

Or, more precisely, the “Dislike” button.

While social networks make it easy to “like” or “like” a post, there is no parallel functionality on platforms like Twitter or Instagram. Kutcher says the hate button would be a less volatile expression of difference. He thinks this would deflect a lot of hate on social media.

“If we give people a very simple, frictionless way of saying, ‘I don’t agree with this,’ it could potentially reduce a huge amount of the kind of negative ingestion that exists within social media,” he said in an interview on Wednesday. .

Kutcher (right) was at an AT&T panel discussing 5G applications.

AT&T

His thoughts on the “Dislike” button are just one of many he shared in an interview after appearing at a 5G event hosted by AT&T last week in New York. Kutcher may be best known for his roles on That 70s Show, Punk’d, or more recently Netflix’s The Ranch, but he’s been a tech investor for the past 15 years with smart bets on companies like Uber, AirBNB and trading app Robinhood, which is set to go public at a later date. This year he’s also a potential astronaut, who sold his Virgin Galactic flight ticket after his wife, actress Mila Kunis, urged him to skip the flight.

Looking back at the event, he of course discussed his interest in 5G networks, as well as gaming and his approach to ethical investing. But it was a question about social media that made Kutcher pause for a moment, sparking his most thoughtful answer.

If we could talk for a moment

The lack of “hate” or “heart” means that people will leave comments or reply. And while some of that is unusually abusive and offensive speech, it’s likely that a lot of the comments will come from an innocent place, even if the tone or wording sounds more aggressive than it is, Kutcher said.

“Different people speak in different ways,” he said. “My wife’s criticism of me is very different from my criticism of my wife, not only in terms of content, but in the way we give criticism to each other. We have discussions in life that revolve around my not understanding the way she was giving me criticism and her not understanding the way I was giving her criticism, But with love.

“Now, apply that to strangers in general.”

Fundamental misunderstanding and the ability to appreciate the background and context of comments and responses – something you can do better if you talk to them face to face – is the root cause of many conflicts spiraling out of control.

“What happened is you had this massive escalation and the mob mentality about that escalation,” Kutcher said. “And then people get beaten up.”

In the early days

Kutcher was among the first to realize the power of social media, leaping onto platforms like Twitter early on. At the time, the atmosphere was experimental, and you weren’t punished for saying the wrong thing or being asked about it.

“This was a community where you could experiment with ideas,” he said. “You didn’t have to be right.”

But now, even asking the wrong question can invite the heap. In 2011, a tweet from Kutcher about firing longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno sparked a backlash, leading him to scale back his use of the platform.

Now, he said in the interview, “You cut off your head, scrap you, you’re done.” “This is more community commentary than social media. Society has become intolerant.”

Kutcher also believes that people are motivated to make negative comments because that’s the best way to get attention.

“I think incentive systems have to change if we want to change social media,” he said.

Why 5G is exciting

The pandemic has highlighted the need for better video conferencing, and 5G is poised to deliver that improved experience. Low latency, or near real-time response, and HD video capability will be critical as more meetings take place through teleconferencing.

Kutcher remembered a time about six years ago when he checked out a military-grade video conferencing system. When asked why that was necessary, the response was: “When you make a decision about whether to go to war or not, you want to know if the general is sweating,” he said.

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With more important decisions being made about video calling now, he understands why 5G is so important. This applies to business and the medical field, where doctors can see their patients from afar.

The lower latency and bandwidth improvements over 5G will also be key to self-driving cars. Kutcher said he has invested in a startup called helm.ai that specializes in artificial intelligence for autonomous technologies.

on 5G games

Kutcher said the primary benefit of 5G is the ability to decode from a fixed console. He invested in Backbone, a startup that makes a latency-free wireless game console that pairs with your smartphone.

Right outside the interview room, AT&T prepared a demo of Google Stadia running on a Pixel phone connected only to its 5G network. The goal was to show how similar the experience was to being at home on a wired computer.

But Kutcher notes that he’s not a player.

“What excites me most about it is the idea that the game doesn’t have to be just on screen,” he said, referring to experiences closer to augmented reality Pokemon Go. The game could be here.

He said 5G’s superior responsiveness should work wonders for virtual reality, removing any video delays that could make the experience uncomfortable.

Ashton Kutcher says he’s excited about 5G’s ability to bring more bandwidth and more responsive connectivity, which will help everything from gaming to telemedicine.

Richard Peterson/CNET

Now playing: Watch this: Stadia plays on AT&T’s 5G

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investing ethically

Kutcher said looking at the societal impact of a potential investment is at the heart of the decision-making process.

“If we had an indication that there was a secondary or tertiary effect that we could proactively anticipate that this is a negative nature, we wouldn’t invest,” he said. “I don’t care much about making money.”

But he noted that many of his companies are in very early stages of their growth. These companies eventually tend to pivot, which makes the responsible person one of the most important components of their investments..

“A lot of the time, the company you initially invested in isn’t the company that gets too big and bulky, is it?” He said. “Because companies are in their early stages, especially if they are a savvy founder, they are constantly evolving what the company is.”

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