💾 Archived View for tilde.pink › ~lacour › gemlog › en_230601_theflawsofsocialmedia.gmi captured on 2023-09-28 at 16:32:13. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

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The flaws of social media

Yesterday I checked my private journal and it turns out that it has been fifteen days already since I uninstalled Instagram, vowing not to get in there ever again. That's a fortnight. (I love this word, we don't have such a thing in Italian). I am going to repeat myself: my mood has changed for the better. I write & read a whole lot more. I re-discovered old interests I had long forgotten, among which there is coding. I thought I had to mention this, since this place is mostly populated by computer people. This is one reason why I think this place seems to be much better than mainstream social media: it's not for everyone. Put it another way: it's not *inclusive.* Actually, it's really the contrary. You don't get in here unless you have some basic understanding of how a shell works and how to move around and do stuff.

I still think social media are strictly unnecessary, as there are lots of alternative ways to get in touch with strangers and acquaintances. Nevertheless, I tried to make a possibly exhaustive list of social media's flaws and imagine what a "perfect" substitute for Facebook etc. would look like. Of course, what I deem as a "flaw" here is actually a desirable feature from the perspective of social media companies.

Algorithms. We all know they're bad. They continously feed us with unwanted but highly addictive stuff, oftentimes even obscuring the content of our choice.
Small / short content. People get easily tired and distracted, and this was the case even before the era of social media. You're not likely to watch ten minutes of stupid content, and they know it. So they feed you with lots of very short videos or text instead, and by the time you realize how stupid it is, you're watching / reading another one already. Shorter content also offers a way to manipulate opinions, by extracting a small part of a discussion, putting it into a nice frame, and eliminating all unwanted replies and criticism.
They're closed / proprietary. You don't really know what they're doing behind the scenes. Your only choice is trust. Good luck trusting a big company whose only purpose is profit.
Buttons (like, retweets etc.) and stats. Once you feel the thrill of getting likes you start wanting more. The same goes for retweets, followers and every other kind of ego-boosting feature. Sooner or later you'll post anything just to get more of it. This of course comes at the expense of authenticity and intellectual honesty.
Monetization, advertising, clickbait. Ads are simply annoying, especially if you're going to watch a video that's much shorter; and they're invasive too. Clickbait is fraudulent, promising something you'll never get. Furthermore, I don't like to see all these overly emotionally charged facial expressions. The rise of the commercial use of the web has increased content quality to a professional level, but also has made the amateur and the hobbyist almost invisible. Some content makers are more worth than others: I don't think it's right.
Timelines. They give you the impression that there is always something worth seeing and reading, as the community is unceasingly producing a stream of content. You're then compelled to check it as often as possible, scrolling mindlessly through tons of *nothingness*.
Notifications. Being bothered anytime, anyplace is certainly not good.
Privacy issues. Who owns your posts, pictures and videos once you put them on their platform? "You" , they say; and for any legal matter you're the responsible (as it should be). But they're allowed to use it. How? See point 3.
Accessible to anybody. This is debatable, though in my experience the bigger the crowd, the higher the chances to stumble on an idiot. In a smaller community people tend to know each other and care for the general wellbeing. We see this in real life and it applies to the Internet as well.

Did I forget something?

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June, 1st 2023

Tags: social media