I (somewhat) famously claimed right here on this site that Twitter would be dead within the first year of the Trump presidency because of his abuse of the platform.
Clearly, I was wrong.
I even signed up for Twitter, had an account, and used it for a year for rugby-related stuff.
It has been 18 months since my last post, and the last time I logged into the account. (I just had to go into my paper-based password archive to find my login and password for the account, to see that my last tweet was April 18, 2019.)
I frequently see people getting worked up about something that happened on Twitter. And obviously, The Donald still drops turds there multiple times a day.
And it is funny to me ... there are all these people, in this little warehouse, out in the middle of this field. Inside the warehouse the sound system is blaring pre-recorded messages at volume 11, while people huddle in groups trying to hear with each other, while shouting and throwing rocks at other small groups of huddled people... and they are all so fucking earnest about it...
But over here, a mile away, at the edge of the barren salted wasteland surrounding the little warehouse, I can make out the flashing lights and discern a low rumble of noise, but ... it's kinda sad ... and oddly quaint ... and more than a little puzzling to me now why people would choose to stand inside that building at all.
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At some point I deleted the Facebook app from all my devices, changed my password to a random one generated by 1Password, and made my browsers forget the login, so any time I want to log in to Facebook, I have to open 1Password, find the login, and laboriously type in the string of random letters, numbers, and punctuation that 1Password assigned.
I didn't delete it - or my account - entirely, because I own/run a large group on Facebook. I have 5 other Moderators and about 15 Top Users who manage the content and moderation for me on a daily basis. So I am not needed for the group any more, but want to keep my finger in the pie just in case rugby ever starts happening again in the US. (Slated for March 2021. But we shall see...)
I try to log in once every two weeks or so, to let my group know I am still here, and deal with anything the Mods ask me to address.
But there is no more attraction to FB outside of that one group, at all. Zilch.
Once I log in, I cannot wait to log out again. I do only the minimum I possibly can, and log out.
The environment on there is just so unpleasant. From the tool itself, to the types of interactions people have, to the blatant conservative-cause championing that Facebook was designed to perpetuate.
It's so repugnant... and so insidious.
Until I was out of it for a while, I couldn't see all the sneaky little shit that it does to actively make the content and interactions worse. Hate is a powerful motivator. Love is really calm and relaxing. So Facebook carefully cultivates the worst animal characteristics in humans, and then fans the flames of hate so effectively.
It's honestly a bit frightening, once you see it from outside.
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Am I better for not engaging in these social media environments? Absolutely.
Am I better than anyone else who is engaged in them? No. Absolutely not.
But prior to abandoning these tools entirely, I was totally convinced that I would feel loss... that I'd feel "outside"... and lose my friends... and be "missing something".
None of that is true. I feel free. Released. Unbound.
It's quite nice. And if you are inclined to try it out, I encourage you to do so.
Life is better outside the shouting chambers of social media. It truly is.
(And yes, I know. You are pissed off at my right now, and think I'm being an imperious dick. Which tells me more about you and your regret, since I said nothing about what YOU should do at all; I just shared my personal experience. Social media, man; it's a helluva drug, when it has its talons in you...)
Yeah I don't use FB either for lots of reasons. The data mining, the self fulfilling algorithm decisions about me, Zuckerberg being a total fuck wit, etc. I've seen FB do serious national damage up close and personal in a former job, so I hate the echo chamber and disinformation aspects. Also, the product itself sucks now. Except! The events feature, that is actual useful and I would consider signing up if I had more time to go out (maybe when the kids are older if FB is still a thing). I use Twitter as a topic reader, the lists feature is really good for building focused microblog feeds. I also share some lists with people I work with if I feel they should know more about what's going on in the industry. A private Instagram account turned out to be the most efficient way to share family photos. Yeah, it's still FB. I just set it to private and treat it like a shared album that specific people can access regardless of platform.
At least you get it. So many people I know are vehemently opposed to FB and "won't ever use it".... and post prolifically to Instagram. smh In fact, I used Instagram before FB bought it. It had the finest content discovery algorithm I've ever seen in any social media. It was Spotity-good at showing me content and creators that I just loved. When they dumped the algorithm and went with Facebook's "content from your top 5 loudest friends and nobody else EVER" algorithm, I dumped Insta. Became useless overnight. "...A private Instagram account ... Yeah, it's still FB..."
It's honestly a bit frightening, once you see it from outside. Out of interest, could you list some of the ways you think they fan the flames?sneaky little shit that it does to actively make the content and interactions worse. Hate is a powerful motivator. Love is really calm and relaxing. So Facebook carefully cultivates the worst animal characteristics in humans, and then fans the flames of hate so effectively.
Well, the problems with infinite scroll are well documented. And ever notice when there are more than a dozen comments on a post, it only shows you a few of them - which are invariably the ugliest/most controversial comments? And the fact that Facebook is designed to emphasize and spread "controversial" content - aka conspiracies and bullshit - and only fact checks actual science? It is specifically designed this way, to increase agitation and annoyance because this routes around your "thinking" part of your brain, and rewards the instant-gratification parts of your brain that clicking provides. This has been known for a long time. In fact, even followup articles on these issues are over 2 years old now. And that their fact checkers include Breitbart, and the Daily Caller (Tucker Carlson's personal conspiracy generation site), and their senior staff are conservative lobbyists with pet political disinformation projects they promote via FB's code and tools? They regularly pay lip service to important things like climate change while working in the background in direct opposition to these same things? And all of this may seem inconsequential when looking at your cousin Tilda's kids birthday party photos... but that content is provided within a frame that is more than 70% that "other stuff", 15% controls, and 10% that is the actual content you want to see. The rest is being fed into your brain whether you want it to or not. And that's just Facebook.
All good points, some of which are obviously true now that I think about it. Thanks for all the sources too, I'll definitely have a look at them. EDIT: One thing that really pisses me off is that the only real choice you have is either seeing which comments Facebook decides is "most relevant", or seeing thousands of twats tagging each other. That practice basically destroyed the FB comment sections (not that they were that great before). They should simply be filtered out for anyone who doesn't know the people.
- I'm so much happier now that I'm not overeating! - I'm tellin' you, man - you may love those carbs but take it from me I've been keto for three months now and it's totally changed my life. - It's great - since I stopped smoking I can taste my food again. - I stopped drinking and I've never felt better. - So glad I gave up my weekly card game. I've got like an extra $250 every friday now. - I mean, I'm not one of those 'meat is murder' nazis but I've lost 30lbs since going lacto-ovo. I don't need to tell you that every single one of these statements is annoying as fuck, do I? They're annoying as fuck. They're all some form of I have temporarily triumphed over a personal vice and I'm going to enroll you in my experience uninvited. They presume that (A) your problem is universal (B) your solution is universal (C) I am somehow unaware or blind to the miracle of your universal solution to your universal problem. Let's take, for argument's sake, the position that hey holy shit you guyz turns out social media isn't actually emotionally fulfilling ZOMG. Great. You kicked it. Good for you. Except you didn't. You only drink communion wine on Sundays, you totally don't have a problem. You only drink socially when you're supporting other people at the bar, you totally don't have a problem. I mean, that's one thing. You've got like, six paragraphs slagging on everyone that isn't a teetotaler who only drinks when he's chumming around with his vicar. You're in full-on Carrie Nation Demon Rum mode. And look. The only positive press social media has ever gotten was before we all started using it. Fucking You've Got Mail is about how Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's lives would be better if they'd step away from the keyboard and be human and the world was still on fucking dial-up back then. You've effectively written a social media post saying "social media sucks" which, c'mon, is every fifth post on Twitter and Facebook. But over here, a mile away, at the edge of the barren salted wasteland surrounding the little warehouse, I can make out the flashing lights and discern a low rumble of noise, but ... it's kinda sad ... and oddly quaint ... and more than a little puzzling to me now why people would choose to stand inside that building at all. ...good for you? But the thing you're missing is that the people engaging with social media are getting something out of it. It might not be healthy, it might not be virtuous, it might not come with the special dispensation that it's okay to check Facebook if it's only for Rugby but if people could universally say "yeah I just decided to stop checking Facebook" it'd be in the dustbin beside Friendster and Myspace. So there must be something there other than their lack of virtue. What if they can't get out? These "fucking earnest" people listening to the sound system at 11. What if this is their best life? What if they've tried to get out and failed, or what if they've gotten out and discovered that "the barren salted wasteland" doesn't hit their dopamine receptors the way attention-whoring for Instagram likes does? What if a carefully-constructed social persona is the only thing they have control of? Pretend your diatribe is read by BethAnn McLaughlin. You think she was ever in any position to go "you know, my life would be better off without Twitter, I think I'll get off it?" How much of a wretched shell must your outer life be to construct an inner one so bleak, and then keep coming back for more after it becomes abundantly clear that your every engagement is increasing your peril? I think in your head, goob, you go this isn't a problem for me, I can just stop, therefore the whole world would be better if everyone just stopped. And I think your understanding of the world would increase if you presume that most people have tried the simple solutions, regardless of the problem. "Don't wanna be fat? Eat less" has worked on exactly zero people.And it is funny to me ... there are all these people, in this little warehouse, out in the middle of this field. Inside the warehouse the sound system is blaring pre-recorded messages at volume 11, while people huddle in groups trying to hear with each other, while shouting and throwing rocks at other small groups of huddled people... and they are all so fucking earnest about it...
I hear ya, and that's why I tried to make this entirely about MY experience, and not telling other people what they should or shouldn't do with their social media consumption. I was able to get off the teat when a friend of mine posted something similar in an email chain a group of us have had going for years. I was afraid of being lonely, feeling left out, withdrawal symptoms... whatever. Just afraid of not logging in. And when I realized THAT was my concern - and his experience was an overwhelmingly positive one - that gave me the impetus to try it out. So the idea of my post is inviting other people to examine their social media experience, and see if it parallels mine. And, if so, one possible thing to do if they want to change their social media experience, is to try what I did. I tried really hard not to say, YOU SHOULD DO THIS NOW and instead let it be entirely about my personal experience, in the hopes someone might find some value in that perspective. --- Side note: I bristled when you called Hubski "social media"... that doesn't seem right to me... and I wouldn't put Reddit in that column either. I think it comes down to the infinite scroll. Tools with the infinite scroll; Insta, FB, Twitter, TikTok, etc. My Reddit and Hubski feeds end when I get to yesterday's content. I see what's new, interact with anything interesting, and go away. Infinite scroll is insidious and actually short circuits our brain's higher functions. So I don't put Reddit and Hubski into the "social media" bucket... I think there's still a bucket over in the corner we used to use called "aggregators and commentary". Maybe they fit better in there...