Instagram gets worse with dark patterns lifted from TikTok

This author is describing stuff they are only affected by -- niche whining. "I don't know about you but I'm on vibrate all the time" etc. The pause/unpause vs sound muting has been forever on videos/reels. I'd say this is in line with general OS changes that leave all volume controls to the OS and people are just getting more used to going there to control that (i.e. in Android 13 etc). It's hardly a dark pattern, especially if you're not constantly performing tasks with different audio levels. Many will have already set their audio levels and are ready to go.

And then with the Reels 'flipping' mode of browsing. Also been a core facet of the Reels-specific UI area for a long time now. It may not be the most fun for you but it's not new and many who hang out in that area will be comfortable with it.

Yes, Instagram's copying of annoying things from TikTok and general decline on quality of content experience etc is a common gripe, but that's it, it's a common gripe and part of an ongoing evolution that ppl have been commenting on for ages. Not new. There's a lot of manual finessing that can be done to help the balance of ads and curation you get in your IG experience and it just takes work, all is not lost to the algorithm. People seem lazy and at odds with IG's business goals but that doesn't mean the whole thing has gone out the window.

Yep, getting into some hobbies lately to spark some passion, since I already have one eye out the door.

> I tried to avoid doing these things for awhile but nobody pays me to be ethical.

it's because any way to make money that is currently legal (but some might consider unethical) is the fittest agent in the darwinian natural selection of economic competition.

So any ethical businesses who forgo a more profitable, but slightly less ethical method, would be out-competed. Over time, therefore, what remains must be businesses whose ethical consideration is trumped by profit considerations.

Instagram is following this exactly - tiktok has better retention and user engagement using the dark patterns, and instagram would not survive if they can't keep up.

So it's really up to the law to set the standard. Akin to how in the old days, environmental protection laws don't exist, and the environment is polluted, there needs to be laws to protect the consumer's "digital environment". Unfortunately, the law is slow to catchup - i doubt i will see it in my life time, and often, the law only catches up after significant damage has been done.

After working for so many companies that went down the surveillance capitalism path I finally decided I would only work on security and privacy projects. It turns out even with this limitation I have had endless job options. So much so I decided to start my own consulting company so I could pick and choose the most interesting projects across many non-survcap companies.

I am a -lot- happier. Also as an independent contractor I have more control of the tools I use and am free to use and support only open source software on my workstations.