 I find it fascinating how people often talk about "social media" in the same way they talk about smoking or eating jelly donuts or getting spray tans. It's seen as a vice, something enjoyable but ultimately "bad for you"-- but I think this bad reputation has a lot to do with what we have let social media become. We treat it like it's not important. Like it's superficial and for vain shallow people who practice puffery. In reality it's the central hub of news, media and cultural distribution. 24 comments
I think social media can be: useful, amusing, enriching, educational, funny, and comforting. I think it can make people feel *less* alone and *more* hopeful. But that can't happen if anyone makes more money if they keep you scrolling and the reason why you are scrolling doesn't matter to them. @futurebird thank you for this thread! Been thinking along these lines as the corporate social platforms are being enshittified. There are major problems there but there are also many great things. So many insightful, creative, funny and moving things folks share  @futurebird @SrRochardBunson In the early 2000s, I traveled overseas multiple times, always staying with people I’d met on early social media & forums. It was fantastic, and I’m friends with almost all those folks to this day. Social media was the absolute best thing that ever happened to my socially awkward ass.  @futurebird this difference feels important If social media is then objecting to changes to the feed algorithm is like whinging about changes to the "extra ball" mechanics of your favorite pinball machine But if the "social medium" is true to its etymology — a space for performing a society — that objection is closer to raising concerns about a head shop opening next to a playground @trochee @futurebird i use it as a source of news and information, besides entertainment. Like a mix of a 21 c newspaper and a good movie.  @futurebird Drinking Coke Zero while I read this post on Mastodon. 😌 Almost makes me wanna take up vaping.  @futurebird Interesting, the degrees of disregard. I see it as an addiction, which is a form of vice. As such, I take it very seriously, as I've watched it take over friends' lives and become the locus of their social interaction and also their source of news. Regarding the latter, that's most troubling as a Canadian, as Meta blocked news links a couple of years ago. But most people haven't left; we use workarounds such as screenshots of articles, and URLs chopped up by spaces. @futurebird it’s like the pub! Is drinking good for you? No. Is it good and fun to congregate? Yes!  The Fediverse / Mastodon was the first place I felt I could make it entirely my own experience. The "work" to create an account and my own algorithm is enjoyable for me to this day. I agree with you 100% @futurebird to be honest "social media" means "websites I don't like / don't use" in practice a lot. @futurebird the ‘tech bros’ entire business model is based off people on social media hating each other. Stripping away fact checking at Meta confirms this. @futurebird Do you think large-scale/global-scale social media platforms can ever be net-beneficial? I'm skeptical, myself. I suspect that past a certain size, moderation and trusty/safety tools can't scale and the cost of just running enough servers etc makes a non-exploitative revenue model close to impossible.  @futurebird Thank you! 💖 Social media as a concept has amazing and powerful potential. The commercial products that have dominated the social media market are awful in many ways. But that's a problem with those companies, not with social media in general. Far too often, people conflate FB/etc. with "social media" itself. @futurebird Its also the central hub of misinformation, stalking, hate, radicalisation, cyber-bullying and cyber crime. While it has a lot of positives it also has a lot of negatives. After all it is humans who use and abuse it.  @futurebird I agree. It inhabits the place that used to be filled by letter writing, greeting cards, postcards, newspapers, magazines, newsletters and notice boards. @futurebird I understand why social media is thought of as a vice. Without conscious effort, social media use can be addictive, can create craving for attention, disconnect people from their surroundings, and warp their understanding of reality.  @futurebird Funnily enough, I agreed until the very last sentence. 😄 There are enough hubs for news and media, but too few places where people are true, genuine and where they (can) connect with each other. @futurebird Social media itself is not a bad habit, but it becomes one if a person starts using it improperly. The majority of the population prefers, sorry, primitive content. And social media fulfills that demand. Not always and not for everyone. But in general. |
Gregory's Server
Social media is important and it's incredibly powerful. Increasingly, we see efforts to control it, to guide it and shape it to political and economic ends.
There is also a desire to monetize it which has been there since the start in many cases. Most of the things that make social media "toxic" can be tied back to these forces. (Most but not all!)
This notion that social media is unimportant and really not even something serious people care about has made it easier to co-opt.