WiseTech Global boss says social media need to be better understood and managed
WiseTech Global Founder and CEO Richard White says selling social media would be a crime, if it were a drug.
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Social media is so addictive that if it were a drug, selling it would be a crime, according to one of Australia’s most successful tech entrepreneurs.
Speaking exclusively to The Daily Telegraph for the Sydney Power 100 rankings, the billionaire founder and chief of WiseTech Global Richard White said social media companies were employing “rooms full of behavioural psychologists to make it highly addictive.
“In fact, I would go so far as to say this: If there was a chemical or drug that created that sort of addiction, it would definitely be a criminal offence to sell that drug,” Mr White said.
Some of the “very bad impacts of social media” are yet to be understood, he added.
“Now, I’m not saying social media should go, I’m saying that we have to understand it (and) we have to manage it in a different way, because it’s definitely having an impact on learning.
“There’s ample evidence that I’ve seen anecdotally and, and also from a science and research point of view, that shows that it’s a highly distracting element when you’re trying to create an educational environment that brings people up and teaches them things.
“So that’s a problem we’ve got to solve.”
Mr White is one of the highest-ranked business figures in The Telegraph’s power list again in 2024, primarily because of his efforts to create new pathways between studying technology and working in the industry.
He is currently expanding his ‘earn & learn’ program that pays undergraduates up to $300,000 while they study – and work for his business.
There will be more places in the scheme and the number of universities will grow.
Mr White, who grew up in an unfashionable part of Sydney and still lives there, has amassed a personal fortune of more than $10 billion. Today his international logistics software business employs 3300 people in 37 countries.
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