“They make communicating with your friends and family easier!”
Um, E-mail has been doing that since the dawn of the Internet. There is absolutely nothing at all that has made communicating any easier since even instant messaging. All that social media has turned into, is nothing but megaphones for the idiot masses.
They literally don’t. X pushing things to the top of ur feed, Facebook polluting your timeline with random video shares, it all makes it harder to see the content you actually care about
Facebook before the algorithm was awesome. It was just the most recent stuff your friends did in that literal order. There was nothing wrong with it lol. Or at least I didn’t think so.
I’ve just started going through and telling it not show me any of the recommended stuff.
It’s kind of fun watching the algorithm cycle through waves of guessing. “Ok it’s going to be all wrestling for the next two days. Hmm, that didn’t work, let’s try MMA for a couple days. No, alright, how about a bunch of memes about being a mechanic…”
On the other hand the clicking “don’t show me this” doesn’t seem to actually do anything. I’ve told it not to show me Pixie and Brutus at least three times.
I do actually care about the content they “push”. Most fediverse apps are pointless to me exactly because they don’t have an algorithm. Unless you already know EXACTLY everything you’re interested in from the start, finding new stuff is the primary and best feature of the “algorithms”.
No they’re not… Those algorithms push stuff meant to manipulate you into making you click more. It doesn’t even expose you to anything new, just stuff you either already agree with or that makes you angry.
You want to find new stuff? Find or build a directory website. But wanting it found for you is the root of the problem. You don’t get to just be served in life.
I’m not trying to defend what it has become but social media can be good to keep updated or in contact with people. You’re not gonna email everyone pictures of your vacation or whatever. Or to keep up with people you don’t see nearly as often as you’d like because of, well, life. People do take it way to far and either post way too much info or take everything too serious.
In my opinion, it’s a very passive way to keep in contact. It doesn’t require remembering people or interacting with them in any way. If you post photos, it shouldn’t be expected that people see them. If you post about a party, it’s not a replacement for an invite to people.
It’s shouting into the wind and then pushing the responsibility of that relationship to be on the person viewing the post to reply to it or like or whatever.
I got off social media for that exact reason, it was very seriously impacting my mental health. Now I may have fewer “friends” but the ones that do are the ones where we are important enough where we actively interact with each other.
Um, E-mail has been doing that since the dawn of the Internet.
I always see people saying “but I have some friends across the world and Facebook is the only way we can keep in contact because they don’t have a phone 😭😭😭”
Like… my guy. You both have email addresses and used them to create FB accounts. Cut out the middle man.
One big difference I see, between email and various messengers on the on side and social networks on the other side is, that emails are me pushing my information at people while a social network is supposed to be them pulling information from my feed. This allows me—when it works—to share stuff with people instead of potentially sending spam. Not all communication is a digital postcard. Social networks allowed a new form of communication. I enjoyed OG facebook until the first big privacy scandal. It was a (mostly) good thing and it was very accessible even then. I‘ve never got such a large part of my tribe on a pull service since then. Sure we all have messengers and groups and what not… but it is not the same. I dream of self-hosting something from the fediverse but we‘re not exactly young anymore and I doubt my tribe will assemble.
What was better than e-mail? Instant messaging and AIM gave us that.
What was better than just instant messaging on your PC? Doing it on the go, on your phone. Great!
What was better than just instant messaging on the go and on PC? Being able to share content like video and pictures. Being able to make group chats and all.
But where else can I post a picture of my dinner and have millions of random strangers see it, thereby validating my personal fragile ego, before I even take the first bite?
My preferred method of communication is a good ol’ phone call, or an SMS to say things like “be there in 5.” I don’t really get the hype with a slew of different text based messaging platforms.
I was all about Signal until they dropped SMS support (totally understand why). None of the people in my life use signal except for the select few that enjoy their ahem extracurricular activities, so it’s kinda moot. And I just don’t have the energy to crusade for people to give a rats ass about their privacy. If I need to have a combo that requires a degree of discretion, I just do it in person.
i use the phone (ya know… for its original and intended purpose) for nearly all ‘not face to face’ communication. i don’t even have data on my mobile and sms is disabled at the carrier.
I hate that it is now Meta’s, but WhatsApp is a damn practical app. I wouldn’t share as much with my social circles if it wasn’t that practical compared to emails.
“They make communicating with your friends and family easier!”
Um, E-mail has been doing that since the dawn of the Internet. There is absolutely nothing at all that has made communicating any easier since even instant messaging. All that social media has turned into, is nothing but megaphones for the idiot masses.
They literally don’t. X pushing things to the top of ur feed, Facebook polluting your timeline with random video shares, it all makes it harder to see the content you actually care about
Facebook before the algorithm was awesome. It was just the most recent stuff your friends did in that literal order. There was nothing wrong with it lol. Or at least I didn’t think so.
OG Facebook was honestly great.
It didn’t make as much money from sponsored videos until they forced it to be in your face via the algorithm 😀
Now if you go on Facebook, you barely even see posts from your friends. Just videos and posts from random groups you aren’t even in.
I blocked all the “suggested for you” posts on facebook through uBlock origin.
Now when I load my feed, I see it block one post after the other, so many of them, literally more posts than the ones I get from friends.
Afterwards my feed is as clean as a whistle, lol
When I visit Facebook, it’s about 8:1 “recommended for you” vs people I actually know.
I see exactly one post on Instagram from anyone I follow before it’s all ads and random algorithm shit I’m not interested in
I’ve just started going through and telling it not show me any of the recommended stuff.
It’s kind of fun watching the algorithm cycle through waves of guessing. “Ok it’s going to be all wrestling for the next two days. Hmm, that didn’t work, let’s try MMA for a couple days. No, alright, how about a bunch of memes about being a mechanic…”
On the other hand the clicking “don’t show me this” doesn’t seem to actually do anything. I’ve told it not to show me Pixie and Brutus at least three times.
deleted by creator
I do actually care about the content they “push”. Most fediverse apps are pointless to me exactly because they don’t have an algorithm. Unless you already know EXACTLY everything you’re interested in from the start, finding new stuff is the primary and best feature of the “algorithms”.
No they’re not… Those algorithms push stuff meant to manipulate you into making you click more. It doesn’t even expose you to anything new, just stuff you either already agree with or that makes you angry.
You want to find new stuff? Find or build a directory website. But wanting it found for you is the root of the problem. You don’t get to just be served in life.
I’m not trying to defend what it has become but social media can be good to keep updated or in contact with people. You’re not gonna email everyone pictures of your vacation or whatever. Or to keep up with people you don’t see nearly as often as you’d like because of, well, life. People do take it way to far and either post way too much info or take everything too serious.
In my opinion, it’s a very passive way to keep in contact. It doesn’t require remembering people or interacting with them in any way. If you post photos, it shouldn’t be expected that people see them. If you post about a party, it’s not a replacement for an invite to people.
It’s shouting into the wind and then pushing the responsibility of that relationship to be on the person viewing the post to reply to it or like or whatever.
I got off social media for that exact reason, it was very seriously impacting my mental health. Now I may have fewer “friends” but the ones that do are the ones where we are important enough where we actively interact with each other.
I always see people saying “but I have some friends across the world and Facebook is the only way we can keep in contact because they don’t have a phone 😭😭😭”
Like… my guy. You both have email addresses and used them to create FB accounts. Cut out the middle man.
Facebook as taught them that they can be lazy and reduce their effort to remain in contact with a like or emoji reaction.
Ironically, I upvoted your comment.
One big difference I see, between email and various messengers on the on side and social networks on the other side is, that emails are me pushing my information at people while a social network is supposed to be them pulling information from my feed. This allows me—when it works—to share stuff with people instead of potentially sending spam. Not all communication is a digital postcard. Social networks allowed a new form of communication. I enjoyed OG facebook until the first big privacy scandal. It was a (mostly) good thing and it was very accessible even then. I‘ve never got such a large part of my tribe on a pull service since then. Sure we all have messengers and groups and what not… but it is not the same. I dream of self-hosting something from the fediverse but we‘re not exactly young anymore and I doubt my tribe will assemble.
AIM was a game-changer tho
It was.
What was better than e-mail? Instant messaging and AIM gave us that.
What was better than just instant messaging on your PC? Doing it on the go, on your phone. Great!
What was better than just instant messaging on the go and on PC? Being able to share content like video and pictures. Being able to make group chats and all.
Did it all without the need of social media.
But where else can I post a picture of my dinner and have millions of random strangers see it, thereby validating my personal fragile ego, before I even take the first bite?
There are subs on Lemmy where you can do that. :3
My preferred method of communication is a good ol’ phone call, or an SMS to say things like “be there in 5.” I don’t really get the hype with a slew of different text based messaging platforms.
I’m pretty close but I prefer signal just because SMS doesn’t do group messaging very well.
I was all about Signal until they dropped SMS support (totally understand why). None of the people in my life use signal except for the select few that enjoy their ahem extracurricular activities, so it’s kinda moot. And I just don’t have the energy to crusade for people to give a rats ass about their privacy. If I need to have a combo that requires a degree of discretion, I just do it in person.
i use the phone (ya know… for its original and intended purpose) for nearly all ‘not face to face’ communication. i don’t even have data on my mobile and sms is disabled at the carrier.
I hate that it is now Meta’s, but WhatsApp is a damn practical app. I wouldn’t share as much with my social circles if it wasn’t that practical compared to emails.