Social Media's Effects On Our Minds & Lives

[Wunderbar]

On 5/6/2024 at 12:40 AM, ignatius said:

ymmv of course but i find that it's the same as ever. there are people who can think for themselves, have "original thoughts" and there are people who are informed by some variety of mass opinions who rarely have an original thought. i still encounter plenty of people who have 'the gift of gab' and can shoot the shit about anything until my social gas tank is empty... i do wonder what the ratio of introverted vs extroverted person out there in the wild. i still am quite introverted and prefer small groups and one on one interactions.

there is in the USA a mass culture though that's of various varieties and there's still the entitled groups who are sheltered and can exist in a bubble of school -> university -> job and not really leave that bubble world. classic "never had an original thought in their lives" kind of people.  

but also, being in a diverse group there's going to be people with very different life experiences who will challenge the common narrative of a group... much to the group's annoyance some times. 

What is an original thought ?

[o00o]

12 minutes ago, usagi said:

I've noticed that as well. it's like the opposite of having helpful wikipedia links come up as top search results on a lot of subjects. and with the company going public they're awash with more money than ever.

of course it's not as obviously bad as the twitter cesspool but reddit - in particular, getting your opinions from reddit - is actively making the world a dumber place. it's a massive echo chamber for the noncommittal centrist/"liberal" hivemind that understands nothing except optics. the upvote/downvote system practically guarantees this outcome. I give some credit to people who were redditors in their teens or early 20s but have moved on and become wiser, but there's always the next generation of idiots that think they're making a difference in the world while updooting celebrity-fellating content or GME go brrr or whatever other dumb inconsequential bandwagon shit is the order of the day. people argued with me when I said the antiwork 'movement' on there was built on a foundation of nothing and would go nowhere.

I always have a laugh when they assume just because the platform has a certain belief this is general opinion . 

[ignatius]

3 hours ago, Wunderbar said:

What is an original thought ?

i let you know when i have one. 

[Wunderbar]

52 minutes ago, ignatius said:

i let you know when i have one. 

exciting.

 

Edited May 8 by Wunderbar

[luke viia]

5 hours ago, usagi said:

I've noticed that as well. it's like the opposite of having helpful wikipedia links come up as top search results on a lot of subjects. and with the company going public they're awash with more money than ever.

of course it's not as obviously bad as the twitter cesspool but reddit - in particular, getting your opinions from reddit - is actively making the world a dumber place. it's a massive echo chamber for the noncommittal centrist/"liberal" hivemind that understands nothing except optics. the upvote/downvote system practically guarantees this outcome. I give some credit to people who were redditors in their teens or early 20s but have moved on and become wiser, but there's always the next generation of idiots that think they're making a difference in the world while updooting celebrity-fellating content or GME go brrr or whatever other dumb inconsequential bandwagon shit is the order of the day. people argued with me when I said the antiwork 'movement' on there was built on a foundation of nothing and would go nowhere.

I'll never forget a particular sunny day in 2011 when I was riding the bus across town and heard two young women a few rows in front of me, apparently chatting about a bad date. one said "ugh, he probably hangs out on reddit" and they both lol'd dismissively. glad to say I did not (and do not) have a reddit account. 

[chenGOD]

18 hours ago, usagi said:

that bullshit website and everyone on it is terrible. I would love it if it imploded like Twitter under Musk.

I have a few specific subreddits that are useful for information and work related issues, but otherwise yes, the big subs are terrible.

17 hours ago, auxien said:

not happening...even with their user-hostile redesign and policies over the last ~year, Reddit is booming rn: https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/7/24151548/reddits-ceo-confirms-that-a-lot-of-user-growth-is-coming-from-google-search

 

I wonder how much of that logged out traffic from google is bots.

[Walter Ostanek]

Microsoft's Digital Defense Report 2023 is a fascinating read on the weaponisation of social media as well as cyberattacks, over the course of 2023

[ignatius]

On 5/8/2024 at 9:56 PM, chenGOD said:

I have a few specific subreddits that are useful for information and work related issues, but otherwise yes, the big subs are terrible.

same. it's possible to join a handful of subs and ignore all the bullshit. same way it's possible to fine tune certain sites to ignore all the nonsense. there's a couple subs i go to that are relevant to health issues, local cycling, PDX "buy nothing" group, idiots in cars etc. 

 

Edited Friday at 03:03 PM by ignatius

[Walter Ostanek]

On 5/8/2024 at 9:03 AM, usagi said:

reddit - in particular, getting your opinions from reddit - is actively making the world a dumber place. it's a massive echo chamber for the noncommittal centrist/"liberal" hivemind that understands nothing except optics. 

You can get a trivialised surface-level hivemind version of any political take on there, really (as long as that take serves someone's interests. And multiple conflicting political takes can still serve the same interest...). In days of yore I moved in socialist/communist circles on reddit, where actual Marxist discussions and analysis took place, it was a lovely time. I don't think there is any such space surviving on there, pretty much all self-proclaimed socialist subs were overrun by edgelords probably a decade ago

What did it? Bots plus Gen Z morons? The latter being the first to grow up in an environment that's so omnipresently irony-poisoned and weaponised. Millennials at least had that window when traditional media was known to be compromised, but the internet was new and cool and hadn't yet been weaponised

 

It's still useful for narrow, specialist topics. I still go to reddit for help fixing accordions or tips on growing onions (I'm secretly 85 years old)

[decibal cooper]

On 5/9/2024 at 12:56 AM, chenGOD said:

a few specific subreddits that are useful for information and work related issues

[chenGOD]

4 hours ago, decibal cooper said:

That's Aphex's subreddit where he releases the sickest bootlegs.