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I resigned from Twitter

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Re: I resigned from Twitter

#481

Post by notreallyserio »

sporkland wrote: post #377
a4isms wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Rules for thee but not for me” is interesting when placed in juxtaposition with a famous quote from the software architect and composer Frank Wilhoit: Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. That applies to no-moonlighting clauses, but also to no sexual harassment clauses,…

I have an open mind about it and have seen it many times, but I struggle with the leaps of logic required to understand the one proposition of conservatism. On its face it is obviously unfair, and it's hard for me to see it as the obvious consequence of conservatism which is "heavily trust the past and move forward with caution". Can you help me connect the two or at least help me understand the underlying propositio…

Trust the past implies trusting those you know and grew up with and thus those most like you, as in your in-group. It also means you may overlook their mistakes and crimes because you may trust they're doing the right thing.

Moving forward with caution doesn't mean you absolutely don't trust others but they are the out-group, if we assume there are two groups here. Those others won't get the same benefit of the doubt as your in-group and thus any mistake they make will be magnified (in relative terms).

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#482

Post by spiderice »

geebee wrote: post #341
danschumann wrote: post #219

Twitter made me feel: some combination of violated, indignant, numb, inferior, empty, powerless, disappointed, embarassed, furious, annoyed, and infuriated.

I've never written a tweet. I avoid comments too much. I do use it to follow reading lists from a few journalists, writers, academics, and artists. There are much better ways, but twitter is what everyone uses. Comments are often terrible. You know the kind of comment where you have absolutely no idea what is being discussed or why, only that it has made someone very angry? Twitter is the land of such comments, devoi…

It's hilarious to me that people actually put up with a social network like this. Everyone in this thread is talking about how all you need to do is unfollow half of people you see tweets from, never read comments, put in a ton of work to get your feed exactly how you want it, etc.. and only then does Twitter become bearable. Yet people still defend it, even after admitting to all that.

It's like getting a 5 course meal of poison food, and defending the meal because the dessert was delicious, and "all you have to do" is not eat the rest of the meal.

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#483

Post by par »

danschumann wrote: post #219

Twitter made me feel: some combination of violated, indignant, numb, inferior, empty, powerless, disappointed, embarassed, furious, annoyed, and infuriated.

i agree with this, and it's not a hot take. It just describes what twitter does to people.

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#484

Post by alpha_squared »

brewdad wrote: post #452
alpha_squared wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mainstream news used to have a near-monopoly on access to events and crime scenes. The advent of smartphones with ever-improving cameras gives the average citizen, who's there in the moment, first access. Twitter just happened to be the medium with lowest barrier to sharing that, but it would've happened regardless. As stations couldn't keep up with the "breaking" part of news, it just made sense (unfortunately) to a…

I don't think eyewitness video is the biggest problem. When @LGBrandon8534932 gets their tweets posted on the evening news and it's treated the same as a statement from Dr Fauci . THAT'S a problem. Hyperbole. But not by much.

Once the floodgates have opened to allow social media statements to permeate mainstream news, there's no limiting which social media is acceptable and which isn't. Eventually, social media itself becomes the news. That feels like a natural progression to me, personally, despite how much I hate it.

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#486

Post by nprz »

spion wrote: post #352

Twitter and other social media are probably the biggest problem of our time. By providing simple rules of information flow: small amount of content, retweet, followers) and rewards (likes), they've created the most efficient engines for finding and spreading novelty at the expense of everything else. There are no incentives to improve accuracy, increase thoughtfulness, paint nuance. Fact checking gets lost in the win…

Have you read Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent, Public Opinion by Walter Lippman, or Propaganda by Edward Bernays? If so, I don't think you would come to the conclusion that the media landscape prior to social media was bastion of truth and honesty.

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#487

Post by bhelkey »

dnautics wrote: post #230
danschumann wrote: post #219

Twitter made me feel: some combination of violated, indignant, numb, inferior, empty, powerless, disappointed, embarassed, furious, annoyed, and infuriated.

I used to feel that way, but I aggressively moderated who I follow in a purge, and being selective about who I add as follows. It feels like it's easier to marie-kondo people I don't care for anymore in twitter since there's little-to-no-expectation that I know anyone on twitter, and for me, anyways, twitter is a much more pleasant experience than any other social network has been.

I would argue that a social media platform that default to reinforcing negative emotions and one has to "aggressively moderate" to get value from is not a good social media platform.

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#488

Post by game_the0ry »

spion wrote: post #352

Twitter and other social media are probably the biggest problem of our time. By providing simple rules of information flow: small amount of content, retweet, followers) and rewards (likes), they've created the most efficient engines for finding and spreading novelty at the expense of everything else. There are no incentives to improve accuracy, increase thoughtfulness, paint nuance. Fact checking gets lost in the win…

> Twitter and other social media are probably the biggest problem of our time.

No, social media is not the root problem - it showed us who we really are.

> The worst bit is that social media is becoming the primary source of news for most people today. The results have been nothing short of catastrophic.

There is good news - people are figuring out the effects of social media. Your post is one example - you see there are issues, you have "woken up." The "Social Dilemma" on netflix is another example, that deprogrammed a lot of people. Frances Haugen's testimony to congress, another. Slowly and surely, people will build "immunity" to "mind viruses." Humans fought this battle and won [1], but the war will go on as long as humans and media coexist.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#489

Post by datavirtue »

stcredzero wrote: post #404
brightball wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where it all went sideways was when mainstream news started showing tweets on air. EDIT: I need to add clarification. I don't mean when breaking news gets onto mainstream channels. No question that happens. What I mean is the use of a single tweet with maybe 1 or 2 likes here or there to reflect public sentiment on different issues. All any news station had to do was fish through the pile of tweets about any given to…

Perhaps things had started to slide sideways before that? I distinctly remember a period of time, I think nearly a decade back, when I'd constantly hear about something on NPR and think, "I saw that headline on reddit yesterday! Are they even trying!?"

Everything of significance comes by way of open sources. It isn't odd for anyone to do a story that was reported in another source.

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#490

Post by gostsamo »

sporkland wrote: post #377
a4isms wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Rules for thee but not for me” is interesting when placed in juxtaposition with a famous quote from the software architect and composer Frank Wilhoit: Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. That applies to no-moonlighting clauses, but also to no sexual harassment clauses,…

I have an open mind about it and have seen it many times, but I struggle with the leaps of logic required to understand the one proposition of conservatism. On its face it is obviously unfair, and it's hard for me to see it as the obvious consequence of conservatism which is "heavily trust the past and move forward with caution". Can you help me connect the two or at least help me understand the underlying propositio…

I don't agree with GP, but if you consider "what have worked in the past" to be those who have the upper hand when setting the rules, then conservatism is cementing the status quo and preventing everyone else from changing it. In a way, preserving "what works" turns into "preserving what works for us".

This is rather one-sided interpretation, but it definitely has its precedences in history and even in our times.

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