Things that I marvel at

[a-dev]

She's Irish in America. Emigrated there just before 9/11.

Useless preaching to the choir whilst actively seeking to lose friends. Mathematically that might not work out too well come voting time. And I feel like that basically sums up the entire idiotic leftwing strategy now. If there happens to be any Trump fans in your circle they're the ones you might actually stand a chance of persuading on some issues. If you were friends with them in the first place there must have been some commonalities there. But no. Reject them completely. Try to make them out themselves so you can just discard them from your life. And for what. A few social media likes? Just ridiculous.

And I'm not even a Trump fan, I think you know that.

 

[Lejuan]

She's Irish in America. Emigrated there just before 9/11.

Useless preaching to the choir whilst actively seeking to lose friends. Mathematically that might not work out too well come voting time. And I feel like that basically sums up the entire idiotic leftwing strategy now. If there happens to be any Trump fans in your circle they're the ones you might actually stand a chance of persuading on some issues. If you were friends with them in the first place there must have been some commonalities there. But no. Reject them completely. Try to make them out themselves so you can just discard them from your life. And for what. A few social media likes? Just ridiculous.

And I'm not even a Trump fan, I think you know that.

Trump's election in 2016 was pretty complicated. This friend of yours might just as well call out any Dem friends of hers who voted for Trump in protest over Sanders not getting the nomination over Clinton. 12% of Sanders supporters voted for Trump, and in 3 key states - enough to impact the result.

But that sort of post is why I'm not on facebook much. When any of my friends keep posting political doomscrolling stuff I mute them, even if I agree with their take. I prefer seeing pics of friends, family, funny stuff.

 

[ZE_501]

I nuked my Facebook account after over a decade. Life is better without it.


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[Lejuan]

I nuked my Facebook account after over a decade. Life is better without it.


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I've been on twitter these past few months because I need it for some research I'm doing. There's some cool content on it but the algorithm just keeps feeding me doom because most of the accounts I'm following are political journalists. I can't wait to do away with it.

This one person I'm following says she has diagnosed anxiety. She noticed that when she couldn't be on twitter one busy weekend she was noticeably happier. And yet... soon as she could she's back on it, like an addict. And this person is an ordained minister. Bizarre.

 

[ZE_501]

[...]
This one person I'm following says she has diagnosed anxiety. She noticed that when she couldn't be on twitter one busy weekend she was noticeably happier. And yet... soon as she could she's back on it, like an addict. And this person is an ordained minister. Bizarre.

We?ve got a 50,000 year old cognitive suite; easy to exploit with modern technology between our instinctive responses to ?content? and the fine-tuned union of UX design and complex algorithms that are designed to keep us engaged.

I was on Facebook and Twitter for years; completely deleted everything recently. Still use Instagram a bit and a couple of hobby forums, but I can feel my brain quieting. Takes time.

I?m not a Luddite. I actually trained in front end web development and UX; did it freelance for a while.

I just think social media in its current incarnation is a ball of unforeseen consequences I want nothing to do with. It was supposed to connect us; a cursory examination provides evidence to the contrary.


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[a-dev]

If I'm among my friends and I were to say ''God I hate social media'' the response I'd likely get would be ''yeah so do I, all the far right trolls''. But inside I'd be like - no. I hate it because of everyone.

 

[Lejuan]

We?ve got a 50,000 year old cognitive suite; easy to exploit with modern technology between our instinctive responses to ?content? and the fine-tuned union of UX design and complex algorithms that are designed to keep us engaged.

I was on Facebook and Twitter for years; completely deleted everything recently. Still use Instagram a bit and a couple of hobby forums, but I can feel my brain quieting. Takes time.

I?m not a Luddite. I actually trained in front end web development and UX; did it freelance for a while.

I just think social media in its current incarnation is a ball of unforeseen consequences I want nothing to do with. It was supposed to connect us; a cursory examination provides evidence to the contrary.


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The late 90s/2000s was like a digital Wild West. Unfettered, unregulated, unaccountable public communication... what could go wrong

If I'm among my friends and I were to say ''God I hate social media'' the response I'd likely get would be ''yeah so do I, all the far right trolls''. But inside I'd be like - no. I hate it because of everyone.

Discourse is on the margins. Complex news and information has been reduced to slogans and misrepresented. There’s no nuance, it’s all black and white... and remarking on the shades of grey invites a pile on from all sides. Tribalism wins out. What is really dispiriting though is when people are so desperate to be right that they can’t recognise a bot or a troll when they see one. I’ve seen respected journalists on twitter quote-shame a user and you look at the user’s profile and they’ve got 15 followers and you think... you couldn’t have just ignored that?

 

[a-dev]

Everyone is judge and jury now - executioner in extreme cases - but the first two alone seem to be enough to create the derangement such that we're going to see more and more instances of the third.

Social media facilitates, magnifies and exacerbates.

Frustrating and worrying times.

I'm posting in brief, spaced sentences because ''I can't even'' you guys. I just can't even.

 

[ZE_501]

The late 90s/2000s was like a digital Wild West. Unfettered, unregulated, unaccountable public communication... what could go wrong

Many people think democracy = lack of accountability. They also think all opinions hold equal weight, which is a deeply problematic sympton of

Discourse is on the margins. Complex news and information has been reduced to slogans and misrepresented. There?s no nuance, it?s all black and white... and remarking on the shades of grey invites a pile on from all sides. Tribalism wins out.

This reductionism began prior to the Internet via soundbites and (intensifying) commercialization of news media. The Internet produced this complex of effects at scale.

What is really dispiriting though is when people are so desperate to be right that they can?t recognise a bot or a troll when they see one. I?ve seen respected journalists on twitter quote-shame a user and you look at the user?s profile and they?ve got 15 followers and you think... you couldn?t have just ignored that?

That's only going to get worse. There's a knee-jerk, performative aspect to social media that brings out the worst in people, and bots are only getting more sophisticated. I was setting up an interview in the tech world some time in 2016, and it took me 3 emails with the guy's 'assistant' before I realized it was an AI. Granted, I wasn't looking for it and interaction was circumscribed -- but there's the rub.

Everyone is judge and jury now - executioner in extreme cases - but the first two alone seem to be enough to create the derangement such that we're going to see more and more instances of the third.

Social media facilitates, magnifies and exacerbates.

Frustrating and worrying times.

I'm posting in brief, spaced sentences because ''I can't even'' you guys. I just can't even.

I've been a ****-eyed optimist for most of my life, believing that the chaos will sort itself out, that the better angels of civilization at this point in history are too big to fail.

But I didn't see this coming and now I'm not so sure about the long term.

Social media and the Internet in its present incarnation amplify what's already there and once you get to these scales, very bad things can happen that the individual players are oblivious to.

Tragedy of the Commons at scale is a terrifying prospect. At this point, it's sensible to worry.

 

[Otomofan]

I'm American, and I can never see myself renouncing my citizenship....but I also can't see myself ever moving back there cause I just think it's only gonna get worse.

I feel "survivor's guilt" like I abandoned my family. I live happily and safely in Japan with the occasional earthquake, and they have to deal with being on the brink of all out civil war.

 

[a-dev]

The level of hate, bile and vitriol directed at JK Rowling now on twitter. The venom. They loved her only a few short months back, she was an ambassador of all things liberal and progressive. Now she might aswell be Adolf Hitler reincarnate. The hyperbole is just unreal.

 

[Lejuan]

The level of hate, bile and vitriol directed at JK Rowling now on twitter. The venom. They loved her only a few short months back, she was an ambassador of all things liberal and progressive. Now she might aswell be Adolf Hitler reincarnate. The hyperbole is just unreal.

Their heads would explode if they realised that they're giving her a load of free publicity that will simply translate into her selling more copies of the book they haven't read but hate so much.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

I nuked my Facebook account after over a decade. Life is better without it.

I’m still on Facebook just for car stuff these days

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

Their heads would explode if they realised that they're giving her a load of free publicity that will simply translate into her selling more copies of the book they haven't read but hate so much.

They don’t think that far ahead. Everything or anyone the left has tried to rage cancel has made more money than before

 

[ZE_501]

I’m still on Facebook just for car stuff these days

I'd considered hanging around for hobby stuff, but decided on a scorched earth policy instead.

I *knew* I would miss out on a few things and be inconvenienced. It meant something to me on a personal, philosophical level to disconnect from the collective anyway. I didn't want to be a part of it anymore. Insignificant in the big picture, but personally very satisfying.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

I'd considered hanging around for hobby stuff, but decided on a scorched earth policy instead.

I *knew* I would miss out on a few things and be inconvenienced. It meant something to me on a personal, philosophical level to disconnect from the collective anyway. I didn't want to be a part of it anymore. Insignificant in the big picture, but personally very satisfying.

Depending on how bad it gets after the election, I might turn out the lights on it

 

[ZE_501]

Depending on how bad it gets after the election, I might turn out the lights on it

Hadn't even thought of that. It'll be a carnage.

 

[a-dev]

Their heads would explode if they realised that they're giving her a load of free publicity that will simply translate into her selling more copies of the book they haven't read but hate so much.

It just amazes me how they will skip ''ohhh, JK, that's disappointing, any chance you might change your mind about that?'' and go straight to 'what a horrible human being who is ''literally'' telling trans people she wants them to die, that ****ing bigot'. You don't even have to like her to see how absurd this is, especially if you've read the things she actually said. After all that these people previously knew about her - and loved her for - Rowling has just one viewpoint that isn't in perfect sync with their current line of thinking on that one particular issue and suddenly she gets zero benefit of the doubt, she's evil. That's it, she's gone. Erase her.

How can they think society should be this way?

 

[Lejuan]

It just amazes me how they will skip ''ohhh, JK, that's disappointing, any chance you might change your mind about that?'' and go straight to 'what a horrible human being who is ''literally'' telling trans people she wants them to die, that ****ing bigot'. You don't even have to like her to see how absurd this is, especially if you've read the things she actually said. After all that these people previously knew about her - and loved her for - Rowling has just one viewpoint that isn't in perfect sync with their current line of thinking on that one particular issue and suddenly she gets zero benefit of the doubt, she's evil. That's it, she's gone. Erase her.

How can they think society should be this way?

The trans community is especially vicious. It may be because they are very fragmented and fight amongst themselves a lot, and this sort of nonsense allows them to focus on a common cause. And they're stans as well, which makes them doubly vicious. Think of all the Star Wars manbabies hating on actors for playing a character they don't like. They all seem to have a few things in common... humorless, entitled, privileged for starters.

 

[a-dev]

Well, it's all going to backfire on them isn't it, as it did in 2016 in the US and with Brexit and the dominance of conservative governments in the UK. Forget about saying ''hmm, maybe we're pushing too hard on a few things or maybe we're *gulp* wrong'', they don't even have the strategic sense to stop blowing off their own feet so they can win a damned election.

We get what we deserve.