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The case against social media is stronger than you think

arachnemag.substack.com

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Re: The case against social media is stronger than you think

#121

Post by ushiroda80 »

Lerc wrote: post #11

Part of me thinks that if the case against social media was stronger, it would not be being litigated on substack. A lot of things suck right now. Social media definitely give us the ability to see that. Using your personal ideology to link correlations is not the same thing as finding causation. There will be undoubtedly be some damaging aspects of social media, simply because it is large and complex. It would be hi…

I don't think reasoning needs to be that complex. Addictive things are harmful, social media is design to be addictive (and is increasing). There is a correlation of higher addictiveness with harm. Children in particular are vulnerable for addictive things. So given the above, the expectation for social media which is highly addictive is that it would be highly harmful, unless there are clear reasons that it's not harmful.

Re: The case against social media is stronger than you think

#122

Post by beeflet »

creata wrote: post #115
blitz_skull wrote: post #24

The last week has taken me from “I believe in the freedom of online anonymity” to “Online anonymity possess a weight that a moral, civil society cannot bear.” I do not believe humans are capable of responsibly wielding the power to anonymously connect with millions of people without the real weight of social consequence.

If you're talking about reactions to the murder of Charlie Kirk, I really don't think anonymity is the problem here, because the opinions I've seen people express anonymously aren't much different to the opinions I've seen people express with their names attached. If anything, the ones where people have attached their names tend to be a bit more extreme. Maybe attaching your name to something makes it feel more impor…

Named users are not more brave than anonymous users, but they are more reckless

Re: The case against social media is stronger than you think

#123

Post by beeflet »

creata wrote: post #107
krapp wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kiwifarms is an obvious object lesson in why anonymity online is necessary, and hardly the only one.

I agree with you, but it's funny that someone else could say the opposite (i.e., that Kiwifarms shows how anonymity lets people get away with saying and doing horrible things) and still sound reasonable.

Not really. There is a massive crowd of public, named people who harass Chris Chan called "A-logs".

Re: The case against social media is stronger than you think

#124

Post by Aunche »

Lerc wrote: post #11

Part of me thinks that if the case against social media was stronger, it would not be being litigated on substack. A lot of things suck right now. Social media definitely give us the ability to see that. Using your personal ideology to link correlations is not the same thing as finding causation. There will be undoubtedly be some damaging aspects of social media, simply because it is large and complex. It would be hi…

> I am prepared to accept aspects of social media are bad. Clearly identify why and how and perhaps we can make progress addressing each thing.

Companies intentionally design social media to be as addictive as possible, which should be enough to declare them as bad. Should we also identify each chemical in a vape and address each one individually as well before banning them for children? I think such a ban for social media would probably be overkill, but it should not be controversial to ban phone use in school.

Re: The case against social media is stronger than you think

#125

Post by freshtake »

The problem is that our thoughts, opinions, and ultimately actions are the product of our exposure. Social media gives a small number of companies (and their algorithms) unparalleled and unchecked control over our exposure.

We should be educating children at a young age about the benefits and risks of social media. We haven't adapted the way we educate society in light of massive tech changes.

This will likely be a topic that future humans look back on and wonder why we did this to ourselves.

Re: The case against social media is stronger than you think

#126

Post by beeflet »

krapp wrote: post #73
hbarka wrote: post #66

Full anonymity in social media should not be allowed. It becomes a cover for bad actors (propagandists, agents, disinformation, bots, age-inappropriate, etc.) It doesn’t have to be a full identity, but knowing your user metadata is open during interactions can instill a sense of responsibility and consequence of social action. As in real life.

Kiwifarms is an obvious object lesson in why anonymity online is necessary, and hardly the only one.

I think the kiwifarms could be a net positive if they incentivize anonymity on the internet through harassment.

Re: The case against social media is stronger than you think

#127

Post by throawaywpg »

mallowdram wrote: post #88

The missing link to our epistemic collapse is language. The acceleration of language, which is arbitrary, accelerates language distortion. The contagion on social media is merely a symptom of the disease of language. “Historical language records reveal a surge of cognitive distortions in recent decades” https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2102061118

acceleration? as in the literal speed at which we translate information through language?

Re: The case against social media is stronger than you think

#129

Post by adrr »

freshtake wrote: post #125

The problem is that our thoughts, opinions, and ultimately actions are the product of our exposure. Social media gives a small number of companies (and their algorithms) unparalleled and unchecked control over our exposure. We should be educating children at a young age about the benefits and risks of social media. We haven't adapted the way we educate society in light of massive tech changes. This will likely be a t…

People have stopped reading the news and rely on social media as their main news source. Thats the scariest thing.

Re: The case against social media is stronger than you think

#130

Post by beeflet »

amatecha wrote: post #110

"everyone publicly talking in the same room" social media really sucks. I've really enjoyed the smaller-scale, better-curated interaction on mastodon. It feels like a giant step forward in how people can connect and socialize online.

A giant step forward into the echo chamber
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