Metazuck Portal Go Is Yet Another Innovation for Kiddies

Facebook designed a new triangle shaped Portal Go for kids. The selling gimmick is that children can easily use it for video calling friends and family. There is one big drawback, Buzzfeed says in the article, “Facebook’s New Portal Go Is Nearly Perfect, Except It’s Horrible For Kids.” The biggest drawback is that it is yet another way for children to access unlimited, binge content through Facebook.

Video binging is a problem that kids have been doing since TV and movies were invented. The only problem with today’s binge videos is that they never stop. YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook stream an endless supply of worthless content. The new Portal Go has a Watch feature where video callers can simultaneously watch the same thing. Binge watching can be disabled when the Portal Go is changed to Household Mode. During video calls, however, the Watch feature is still available. Facebook does plan to have a disable feature when it updates the Portal Go’s software, but:

“This is a perfect encapsulation of a recurring Facebook problem. The company creates a compelling product, something to like even if you don’t “like” Facebook (let me count the reasons why: 1, 2, 3…never mind). And then it tries to cram some other dreadful Facebook product down your throat along with it. Force-feeding Portal Go users a dogshit Watch experience is just another version of putting the Reels button in the center of Instagram, where the button to post a photo used to be, or prompting you to repost your Instagram Stories to Facebook Stories.”

Facebook does create reoccurring nightmares. Facebook new Portal Go needs a moral compass like every new piece of technology.

Whitney Grace, November 18, 2021