Documentary on Social media, definitely worth watching.

but my Dad said he deleted all his accounts after watching it lol.

I deleted Facebook a few years ago. I may delete my Instagram, Twitter is my worst addiction, I may wait until after the election to delete it but I will. I stopped using it for about two months when the quarantine began, then when I started again I was all in immediately.

... jumped back in when quarantine started and we were reminded that 45 dismantled the Pandemic Response Team so I could remind all my conservative Facebook friends how inept their hero was. Been on a daily rampage ever since.

But I, like you, quit Twitter for 2 (actually probably more like 3) months when quarantine started as well haha. Basically traded Twitter for Facebook.


>I deleted Facebook a few years ago. I may delete my
>Instagram, Twitter is my worst addiction, I may wait until
>after the election to delete it but I will. I stopped using
>it for about two months when the quarantine began, then when I
>started again I was all in immediately.

FB for all its flaws is is useful to keep in contact with certain people. I def had to clean out some riff raff though. it can be fun and pleasant for the right people.

Twitter can be a blast but it's way too dogpilish and overly tribal for my taste. I feel like it brings out the worst in people. It's a lot of "If you think X, you're a piece of shit", and i sometimes find myself falling into that mindset. I generally make a conscious effort not to come at someone online in a way i wouldn't if they were standing in front of me. Twitter is the only place where i'll really feel myself losing that.

Instagram is probably my favorite, I have it kind of set up where i barely see anything political. It's a nice break. I really enjoy it.

The thing is, there is valuable information on there, but overall it’s just not healthy. I was definitely feeling better when I stopped using it.

I can't imagine being even a low level celebrity and sharing an opinion that slightly veers from the crowd. Not to say you *can't* but it doesn't seem worth it. it's like you either have to virtue signal, or go full dirtbag.

but i had to turn off all phone and email notifications. i also had to uninstall facebook from my phone because it was using an alarming amount of data.

Twitter has zero redeeming value. It's a worthless echo chamber. Just non-stop doomscrolling. I literally sleep better and have lower blood pressure after deleting it. I got rid of Facebook a long time ago, but at least with FB, you occasionally get an innocent glimpse of your family's lives. Twitter is pure, uncut garbage.

Twitter is crazy. I want to stay informed but just too much. One thing I love about Twitter is I’ve gotten so many great book suggestions, but it’s just not worth it overall.

>Twitter has zero redeeming value. It's a worthless echo
>chamber.

This isnt true. Like anything, you make it what you need it to be. It's very helpful for job searching in the writing field, i got hipped to really informative and helpful podcasts, and it keeps me connected to advocacy initiatives that are important to me.

Just non-stop doomscrolling.

i don't follow those kinds of accounts. Only ones i can learn from.

d

It's clear these platforms are able to subliminally alter our psyches.

Makes you wonder what would happen if these companies ever decided to forcefully target positivity.

did you watch the documentary?

I’ll prob watch it tomorrow since week 1 nfl is gonna be rough and boring

Yes yes its social media thats the problem, not predatory marketers and software developers, not capitalism itself for allowing an attention-economy like this to exist.

Did you watch it? The documentary does take about capitalism.

Opening statement is about how the decisions of 50 software developers can influence the behavior of billions of people.

Marketers interfering with politics and america using psyops to manipulate foreign governments existed long before social media. social media just made it easier for them to do, but its always been a thing. the duality of the internet age is more people are privy to this information.

what was missed in the documentary is that misinformation is so easily believed because our country has a record of blatantly lying about things. This distrust in the media doesnt exist in a vacuum. The Dreadloc white guy said people are radicalized because they're "isolated and cant have civil conversations with each other," which is hella ahistorical. America has a history of "radicalism" it refuses to reckon with and the people will perpetuate that with or without an algorithm.


i think the concept of regulating and fact cheking the political content thats posted on major sites would be dope. Not sure how that would be enforced without backlash tho. we can't even get people to wear masks.

I've listened to a couple podcast interviews with tristan Harris. This didn't change my views on my own personal use of social media, or make me feel differently about respective platforms but it's a good breakdown about how currently and potentially catastrophic this all is collectively.

simultaneous utopia/dystopia was a good way to describe it.

like damn not even the people that analyze and develop the software are immune to it.

you don't use the product. That is so true!

Another thing that is worth noting is that these developers did not set out to be evil.

I turned it off in like 20 minutes

"Your ex-girlfriend is in a new relationship"

The younger daughter smashing the glass thing 30 seconds after getting her phone locked in there was over the top too.

https://twitter.com/_lizharvey/status/1305230234900459525?s=20

A bunch of presumably financially stable people saying, "here's what we did, here's why and how we did it and why are they doing this to us?"