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Myths about Social Media

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Re: Myths about Social Media

#101

Post by api »

fullshark wrote: post #29
version_five wrote: post #13

I think the echo chamber one misses the point (or maybe the analogy of an echo chamber is bad). It's true that people are exposed to other views, but there is still the echo effect of what their bubble thinks of those other views. Two people discussing their differences is not the same as two (or N) bubbles hurling outrage at one another, which I think is closer to most of twitter - the echo chamber still applies wit…

The vast majority of people's exposure to other views are just the dumbest iterations of said views, for the express purpose of "dunking" on them to further calcify their previously held positions also. At least on twitter the goal is to find morons on the other side of the ideological divide and mock them.

I’ve heard that called the “weak man” as opposed to the straw man. Almost all debate I hear is against the weakest or nuttiest form of an argument.

Re: Myths about Social Media

#102

Post by fullstackchris »

I disagree harshly with the idea that social media _isn't_ an echo chamber. I mean, look at Reddit over the past few years. They've slowly (and successfully) removed nearly every conservative leaning subreddit on the site. It's clearly a hive mide ultra-lib circle jerk and anyone who doesn't see that has been drinking the blue reddit koolaide too long.

The only thing left really is r/conservative which is at best made fun of on the rest of the site - and even they have been debating going private.

Another annoying example: its frequently "fine" for liberals to say stuff like "I hope those who didn't get vaccinated die", which I've seen extremely frequently in things like r/politics and others, but when its the reverse (r/nonewnormal) it causes an entire ban of subreddit?

Not that I condone either side of these ignorant comments, but if you're going to take stuff down, at least be fair to both sides about it.

But hell, even centrists critiques like these are made fun of nowadays - gotta be a part of that extreme echo chamber to be cool, right?! So who am I kidding...

Re: Myths about Social Media

#103

Post by whywhywhywhy »

fleddr wrote: post #31

Can't say I'm impressed. It seems plain as day to me that many people are far more hateful online than in real life, mostly under the disguise of anonymity and/or the physical divide. You can say some truly nasty things online that in the physical world would make you wake up in a hospital. There's no real correction mechanism online. I can't believe the research doesn't address the point that some others here are ma…

> It seems plain as day to me that many people are far more hateful online than in real life,

They’re still thinking it IRL.

Re: Myths about Social Media

#104

Post by fullstackchris »

krsrhe wrote: post #80
fleddr wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree, the negative part is disproportionately impactful. As an analogy, my g/f and I recently went grocery shopping. As we got out she was fuming at how old people completely ignore COVID rules, whilst society is largely making sacrifices for them. I was part of the whole experience, and two people ignored the rules. One did not have a mask, another did have one but ignored social distancing. There were probably som…

You know what the vast majority of old people are doing? Not going to the store with you. Hello, sampling bias!

Exactly my thoughts. OP needs to read _Thinking, Fast and Slow_ and/or _The Scout Mindset_. Actually COVID as a whole has been yet another revealing of the amazing ability of the irrationality of humans and our failure to understand statistics, numbers, and growth rates, large and small.

Re: Myths about Social Media

#105

Post by pasabagi »

fullstackchris wrote: post #102

I disagree harshly with the idea that social media _isn't_ an echo chamber. I mean, look at Reddit over the past few years. They've slowly (and successfully) removed nearly every conservative leaning subreddit on the site. It's clearly a hive mide ultra-lib circle jerk and anyone who doesn't see that has been drinking the blue reddit koolaide too long. The only thing left really is r/conservative which is at best mad…

You could also say that reddit represents a far wider spectrum of views than normal discourse, just because of stuff like r/childfree or r/witchesagainstpatriarchy. It's all liberal-compatible, but it's still more diverse than normal media, where you have centrists, and the occasional off-center guest, but all exist within an essentially narrow section of possible opinions.

Re: Myths about Social Media

#106

Post by user-the-name »

fullstackchris wrote: post #102

I disagree harshly with the idea that social media _isn't_ an echo chamber. I mean, look at Reddit over the past few years. They've slowly (and successfully) removed nearly every conservative leaning subreddit on the site. It's clearly a hive mide ultra-lib circle jerk and anyone who doesn't see that has been drinking the blue reddit koolaide too long. The only thing left really is r/conservative which is at best mad…

You don't get to embrace bigotry and hatred, and then turn around and complain when you get kicked out. If the conservative subreddits could have managed to behave themselves like rational and good people, they would not be getting kicked out.

Re: Myths about Social Media

#108

Post by bluedays »

user-the-name wrote: post #106
fullstackchris wrote: post #102

I disagree harshly with the idea that social media _isn't_ an echo chamber. I mean, look at Reddit over the past few years. They've slowly (and successfully) removed nearly every conservative leaning subreddit on the site. It's clearly a hive mide ultra-lib circle jerk and anyone who doesn't see that has been drinking the blue reddit koolaide too long. The only thing left really is r/conservative which is at best mad…

You don't get to embrace bigotry and hatred, and then turn around and complain when you get kicked out. If the conservative subreddits could have managed to behave themselves like rational and good people, they would not be getting kicked out.

Is it not bigoted and hateful to say that someone should die because they didn’t get the vaccine?

Asking as a liberal

Re: Myths about Social Media

#109

Post by user-the-name »

bluedays wrote: post #108
user-the-name wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't get to embrace bigotry and hatred, and then turn around and complain when you get kicked out. If the conservative subreddits could have managed to behave themselves like rational and good people, they would not be getting kicked out.

Is it not bigoted and hateful to say that someone should die because they didn’t get the vaccine? Asking as a liberal

Not taking a vaccine and endangering yourself and others as a result is a personal choice, so I would not call it "bigoted" to be angry at someone for making that choice.

"Hateful", maybe. But again, it is personal choice that person made that endangers others. It is also not an active stance - no "liberal" is going out to actively make unvaccinated people die. They are just sitting there hoping for their choices to have extreme consequences.

And the complaints from conservatives about this are definitely not in good faith. They are just an attempt at a gotcha and turning tables. They themselves do the same kind of thing every time, and do not see a problem with it when it is their own side doing it.

Re: Myths about Social Media

#110

Post by TillE »

mrhands556 wrote: post #41
teucris wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My initial concern, based on reading the abstract, is that since this study only looks at Twitter and not Facebook, it isn’t enough evidence to make any conclusions about echo chambers in a general way as so many people get their news from Facebook.

Twitter and Facebook are what you make of it. Reddit popular is a total echo chamber. Almost every sub, outside of focused hobby subs, turn into echo chambers eventually. The dynamics of reddit, with downvotes totally squelching dissenting opinions and upvotes promoting popular ones, is naturally going to turn into a total echo chamber.

If you haven't touched Reddit in a while - especially if you've been involved in real conversations/work on the same topics in the meantime - it's a bizarre experience to visit various subreddits and see the particular subcultures which have developed. It tends to be very narrow, uninteresting, and annoying. I think most any monolithic community is going to be more or less like this.

It definitely includes hobby subs too. Like, you may find everyone reciting "never do X", even though it's actually correct to do X sometimes, and that's just an oversimplified rule for beginners.

It's why I keep coming back to Twitter, because it only gives me exactly the people I choose to follow, even if I sometimes have to fight the app to keep that default chronological view with no garbage added.

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