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Don't let social media think for you

disgustinglyoptimistic.com

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Re: Don't let social media think for you

#31

Post by fumblebee »

tester34 wrote: post #17
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is to let you know a bit about the reality you share with others. The stuff on the news is often things that are affecting others directly (do you want to avoid the area of town with unmasked protesters?) and indirectly (Is your neighbor going to increase racism towards Asian Americans in part because of folks linking a virus to a country?). News doesn't always have the most important things to you, but it…

It's poor deal, it's not worth. Just because I may learn some small things that probably does not affect me directly and additionally receive some news that make my mood worse due to hearing some yet another negative news about bad stuff / politics / yada yada, what's the point? 80% of the news I read is HN and some programming related websites and whenever I jump into "mainstream" media, then I feel like I'm reading…

Not all news is made equal, though maybe you implied this by using the term mainstream.

There's a profound difference in what you get out of a curated editorial in the Economist and the talking heads on Fox News.

I'd argue the former has tremendous value and isn't presented in a way that pokes at our anxieties.

Re: Don't let social media think for you

#32

Post by FridayoLeary »

hnthrowaway2 wrote: post #4
spadros wrote: post #3

Yes I quit social media a couple of years ago and agree with pretty much everything the author says. Social media environments encourage incendiary discussion because it fuels upvotes and general attention. Most people won't take the time to consider a more valid grey opinion because they've jumped to a conclusion and are busy attacking someone, or because it won't get as much attention. The first thing that came bac…

It is a bit like "don't let the truth get in the way of a good story". I have felt the urge to respond with something witty and scathing to a story online, only to realise after a moment's reflection that my response would be irrelevant in several scenarios. The disappointment that follows for wasting a witty response...that takes some resisting.

The amount of comments here on HN that i never post or delete.... That's largely thanks to HN being quite strictly policed.

Re: Don't let social media think for you

#33

Post by ta988 »

TheHypnotist wrote: post #21
goalieca wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on linked-in for obvious reasons but i largely ignore the posts. I don't get how so many people are political on a site largely concerning itself with employment. Other than that, reddit was the last piece of social media that i quit last year. I consider it more of a social media service than an a forum for discussion.

LinkedIn is chock full of people with bullshit professional titles posting nonsense. Half the time I wonder if they're bots.

They may not be but social media make people act like bots. Humans just optimize for whatever reward they are after (likes, followers...)

Re: Don't let social media think for you

#34

Post by rossdavidh »

pessimizer wrote: post #13

It's bizarre to use an author who demands 5/5 star reviews and insults personally people who gave her 4/5 star reviews in a take about nuance criticizing the people who criticized her for doing that . Blogs are also social media, this is just additional pile-in. I think this is supposed to be better because it uses too many words, tries to make the personality flaws that it ascribes to reviewers universal, and has a…

I believe the article's author is not saying that the author was in the right; quite the contrary. Rather, the point is that the author can be in the wrong, and yet one can still sympathize with her situation and difficulty in being dispassionate about having her work rated. Yet, the mechanisms of social media (ranking, instant comments, etc.) push everything in the opposite direction of reflection and sympathy.

Re: Don't let social media think for you

#35

Post by bluGill »

spadros wrote: post #3

Yes I quit social media a couple of years ago and agree with pretty much everything the author says. Social media environments encourage incendiary discussion because it fuels upvotes and general attention. Most people won't take the time to consider a more valid grey opinion because they've jumped to a conclusion and are busy attacking someone, or because it won't get as much attention. The first thing that came bac…

I found facebook became more valuable to me once I decided I would only post about things I want my friends to know. That is pictures of my kid's new bike, or a video of the baby babbling. Facebook does a very good job of ensuring my close friends and family keep up with the cute little things in life.

I'm still working on getting out of all the groups that waste space. Sadly many useful things have moved to facebook, and while good for facebook (more ads), other forums function better for keeping up with my hobbies - except for the lack of people checking them.

Re: Don't let social media think for you

#36

Post by bnralt »

tester34 wrote: post #17
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is to let you know a bit about the reality you share with others. The stuff on the news is often things that are affecting others directly (do you want to avoid the area of town with unmasked protesters?) and indirectly (Is your neighbor going to increase racism towards Asian Americans in part because of folks linking a virus to a country?). News doesn't always have the most important things to you, but it…

It's poor deal, it's not worth. Just because I may learn some small things that probably does not affect me directly and additionally receive some news that make my mood worse due to hearing some yet another negative news about bad stuff / politics / yada yada, what's the point? 80% of the news I read is HN and some programming related websites and whenever I jump into "mainstream" media, then I feel like I'm reading…

Indeed. The other problem is that the news is often filled with misleading narratives that lead people to be less informed than before, and that it creates a huge opportunity cost in terms of attention. When you cut out the news you start to notice a lot of things around you that you were glossing over before.

Re: Don't let social media think for you

#37

Post by dharmach »

spadros wrote: post #3

Yes I quit social media a couple of years ago and agree with pretty much everything the author says. Social media environments encourage incendiary discussion because it fuels upvotes and general attention. Most people won't take the time to consider a more valid grey opinion because they've jumped to a conclusion and are busy attacking someone, or because it won't get as much attention. The first thing that came bac…

On the flip side, all with nuanced, grey opinions will be left with no motivation to act and the fanatic, opinionated people will act.

In a war if the leader has to select an army of thinkers & intellectuals versus that of fanatics & fundamentalists, which one will he choose?

Re: Don't let social media think for you

#38

Post by mkr-hn »

weezin wrote: post #25
spadros wrote: post #3

Yes I quit social media a couple of years ago and agree with pretty much everything the author says. Social media environments encourage incendiary discussion because it fuels upvotes and general attention. Most people won't take the time to consider a more valid grey opinion because they've jumped to a conclusion and are busy attacking someone, or because it won't get as much attention. The first thing that came bac…

I recently deleted a lot of social media accounts. My concerns are any accounts I created for important things using social media accounts, and losing track of what behavior is publicly acceptable in the ever changing Overton window. I feel like the benefits to productivity and mental health will exceed those concerns greatly though.

>> "losing track of what behavior is publicly acceptable in the ever changing Overton window."

A good skill to cultivate for this worry is listening without interrupting or judging when you get feedback. Often what someone who feels hurt wants, regardless of the merit of that hurt, is to feel heard. Listening is timeless.

"I don't fully understand, but I hear you."

Sometimes the best you can do is get someone to move you out of their enemy bucket, but that's often enough. I'm often on the other side of that because there are parts of me that people don't get, but often feel qualified to speak on. The things they say aren't what hurt. It's the often aggressive refusal to accept the limits of their knowledge and experience that hurts. Hubris is the timeless enemy of listening.

Real-world example: there was a now-closed Mastodon instance where it came out that the admin did a long, rambly thread where she confidently explained AMAB nonbinary people are just trans women who are too cowardly to transition. There's an interesting discussion to be had on how to define "woman" and where people draw the line on identifying as nonbinary vs woman vs nonbinary woman, but it doesn't start with a thread like that.

Re: Don't let social media think for you

#39

Post by throw737858 »

hnthrowaway2 wrote: post #19
throw737858 wrote: post #5

If you click on toxic content, algorithm is going to feed it to you. Twitter is perfectly fine if you unfollow and block toxic influencers. There is propably even keyword based filtering. For news you can watch international news stations from India. Very realistic and refreshing.

> For news you can watch international news stations from India. Very realistic and refreshing. Did you mean "if you are in India you can watch international news channels to get a better perspective"? If yes, I would agree with you.

No, I am in Europe and watch indian news about US politics etc.

Re: Don't let social media think for you

#40

Post by [deleted] »

dharmach wrote: post #37
spadros wrote: post #3

Yes I quit social media a couple of years ago and agree with pretty much everything the author says. Social media environments encourage incendiary discussion because it fuels upvotes and general attention. Most people won't take the time to consider a more valid grey opinion because they've jumped to a conclusion and are busy attacking someone, or because it won't get as much attention. The first thing that came bac…

On the flip side, all with nuanced, grey opinions will be left with no motivation to act and the fanatic, opinionated people will act. In a war if the leader has to select an army of thinkers & intellectuals versus that of fanatics & fundamentalists, which one will he choose?

[deleted]
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