Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
nytimes.com
Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
1–10 of 76 posts
Re: Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
#2Personally I've been off of Facebook since 2008 but...don't hate the player, hate the game. Facebook makes big money serving ultra-targeted ads for their customers. But, it's not the only one: see Twitter, Google, etc.
Penalizing Facebook without also changing the incentive structure (personalized advertising) is a short-term, short-sighted fix.
Re: Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
#3By the same logic couldn’t you also blame cell phones and the internet? And the radio? And the printing press... and any technology that increases the dissemination rate of information?
Re: Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
#4Personally I've been off of Facebook since 2008 but...don't hate the player, hate the game. Facebook makes big money serving ultra-targeted ads for their customers. But, it's not the only one: see Twitter, Google, etc. Penalizing Facebook without also changing the incentive structure (personalized advertising) is a short-term, short-sighted fix.
In this case it's appropriate to hate the player.
There is nothing in the ad revenue ecosystem which requires indulgence in or tolerance for sociopathic, amoral, unethical, or duplicitous behavior.
Complicity. Complacency. Collusion.
That's what participation is today.
Ignorance may no longer be pleaded.
Re: Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
#5Facebook helps me stay in touch with people I might not otherwise stay in touch with. It brings value into my life.
Re: Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
#6Personally I've been off of Facebook since 2008 but...don't hate the player, hate the game. Facebook makes big money serving ultra-targeted ads for their customers. But, it's not the only one: see Twitter, Google, etc. Penalizing Facebook without also changing the incentive structure (personalized advertising) is a short-term, short-sighted fix.
In this case it's appropriate to hate the player. There is nothing in the ad revenue ecosystem which requires indulgence in or tolerance for sociopathic, amoral, unethical, or duplicitous behavior. Complicity. Complacency. Collusion. That's what participation is today. Ignorance may no longer be pleaded.
You're implicitly arguing that Facebook should be a censor. Censoring at scale is a fool's errand. Change the incentive structure. Make Facebook operate by subscription, make timelines linear, etc. You'll never stop people from spreading dumb shit online, but you can stop it being willfully propagated to maximize engagement.
Re: Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
#7By the same logic couldn’t you also blame cell phones and the internet? And the radio? And the printing press... and any technology that increases the dissemination rate of information?
No.
Take a moment and survey what whistleblowers and watchdogs have been shouting for years now.
It's not the "medium."
There is no abstract medium.
There is corporate suppression of internal checks; active collusion or participation in unethical and immoral behavior; and grotesque performative punishment for those who push back.
Re: Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
#8Facebook helps me stay in touch with people I might not otherwise stay in touch with. It brings value into my life.
Go ahead and spell it out - the destruction of civil society is worth the convenience Facebook offers.
Re: Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
#9By the same logic couldn’t you also blame cell phones and the internet? And the radio? And the printing press... and any technology that increases the dissemination rate of information?
No, because "dissemination of information" is not why Facebook is so problematic. Their core philosophy of "connecting the world" is itself fundamentally flawed. There's entire fields of psychology devoted to understanding how humans connect and interact (including e.g. Robin Dunbar), and Facebook hasn't listened or followed any of it, instead preferring to build a platform that, in the end, actually breaks our ability to empathize and connect with each other.
Re: Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World
#10By the same logic couldn’t you also blame cell phones and the internet? And the radio? And the printing press... and any technology that increases the dissemination rate of information?
I think the main reason behind blaming facebook is that facebook decides what you see in your stream. It does so automatically and doesn't author that conent but I don't think it absolves them of responsibility.