world wide power outage for weeks/months

Not to easy really. There are a small number of groups I belong to one of them is a support group for my medical condition(s). Another is for the caravan and there are a number of tech groups. I have family and friends offshore and this is just an easy way to keep in touch.

I use facebook for keeping in touch with people.

And sometimes some funny stuff posted there. Like an asteroid approaching earth and the dinosaurs rushing off to get toilet paper.

Don't post or check into places much so Facebook knows more about my friends then me, which they would know about them even if I didn't have account.

Privacy has changed since the internet age, Stupid things done when younger stayed in close circle, not any more.

The only thing the internet as changed with me is I use to trust what I read, not any more.

There's always going to be people trying to influence others, if they're not using Facebook as long as they're ways of communicating they will spread their beliefs or ideas, so deleting a Facebook account is not going to change anything. As long as it's useful will continue, or if a better way keeping in touch without 1 to 1 communication will look at it. 

Have been invited to invents on it to, so Facebook does improve social life. Guess it's a tool that can be used for good or bad.

I think there is a disconnect in that many people seem to think that just by not taking part in some of the darker parts of Facebook, it makes it ok to use the benefits offered. The disconnect is that if you use the platform at all you are in fact making the platform bigger and more sticky in peoples lives thus making it easier for the bad stuff to take place and to spread. 

Its a giant manipulation engine but everyone thinks they are immune to the manipulation. If that were actually the case, we wouldn't be having this conversation because no one's behaviour would have been changed by FB.

We seem to have decided that there were no support groups and nobody kept in touch with family and friends before Facebook so because it created those things it deserves a free pass for all the bad things that it does. Or just as bad, "it doesn't directly affect me so I don't care" Just remember that many terrible events in history were perpetrated while others turned a blind eye because it didn't affect them directly.

And if you think about it, it does affect you directly. When people burn down cell towers you lose communications. When anti-vaxers become a large enough group you lose herd immunity. When extremist views spread you get Donald Trump.

geekiegeek:

 

When extremist views spread you get Donald Trump.

 

The key here is that Donald Trump is not the disease, he's the symptom: a raging red boil on the abscess of selfishness, rebelliousness, hate and stupidity.

Unfortunately there seem to be an increasing number of people who are becoming disengaged from mainstream society, angry about their perception of being downtrodden, and looking for an outlet for that anger. The mosque attacks last year were a tragic example of that. The question is whether Facebook is actually creating these personalities, or just making them more visible.

Don't get me wrong - I think Facebook are an anti-social company with a dysfunctional product that should carry health warnings, but I think it might be a bit of a stretch to say that they are pushing white supremacy and conspiracy theories onto people who wouldn't otherwise have fallen into that trap through some other means. I would rather that we focus on early intervention for people who are socially isolated and showing signs of psychological distress. 

When another platform came up more popular, The reality is FB is not the issue society is. If you closed FB tomorrow another one would crop up and if you try to make them censor things then those censored groups will just make their own/find a way around it.

The free flow of information ultimately leads to echo chambers and/or overwhelmed minds with not enough time in the day to fact check. Add in a dash of people just taking the easy path rather than the right path and bam FB type systems occur

Beccara:

 

When another platform came up more popular, The reality is FB is not the issue society is. If you closed FB tomorrow another one would crop up and if you try to make them censor things then those censored groups will just make their own/find a way around it.

 

 

 

The free flow of information ultimately leads to echo chambers and/or overwhelmed minds with not enough time in the day to fact check. Add in a dash of people just taking the easy path rather than the right path and bam FB type systems occur

 

The issue is that FB arent passive in this respect. It has been proven by their own admission (see OP) that their algorithms push people to more extreme content and disinformation because it drives clicks and time on site. That's not the same as someone actively looking for an extremist outlet. 

And every site wants/needs clicks and time on sites. You're still describing a situation that will happen on any other replacement. FB aren't hand picking extremest content specifically but rather content along a path, This issue isn't tied to FB alone, Almost all SM sites do this because it generates content that brings/keeps others to their site.

Social media is a symptom, not a cause of today's issues

Beccara:

 

And every site wants/needs clicks and time on sites. You're still describing a situation that will happen on any other replacement. FB aren't hand picking extremest content specifically but rather content along a path, This issue isn't tied to FB alone, Almost all SM sites do this because it generates content that brings/keeps others to their site.

 

 

 

Social media is a symptom, not a cause of today's issues

 

So why not change the algorithms to act in a more socially responsible way. By not doing this SM (and I only picked Facebook here as they are the biggest) are not just a symptom, they are actively spreading the disease. Running an algorithm that they have admitted themselves, favours extreme views is the same thing as "hand-picking" content.

There are also many direct correlations between the incidence of extremism and decreased mental health with the rose of SM so I'm not sure I agree that we would have the same problems in society today if we didn't have SM.

geekiegeek:

 

So why not change the algorithms to act in a more socially responsible way. By not doing this SM (and I only picked Facebook here as they are the biggest) are not just a symptom, they are actively spreading the disease. Running an algorithm that they have admitted themselves, favours extreme views is the same thing as "hand-picking" content.

 

Because that's not what people want to see? Like all the algo is doing is promoting content that people may be interested in. Extreme or not it's always going to be about the clicks. Anyone who doesn't put popular content in front of eyeballs is going to be replaced by someone who will. Remember a good chunk of the events and issues you're talking about first hit mainstream with the *chan's

geekiegeek:

 

There are also many direct correlations between the incidence of extremism and decreased mental health with the rose of SM so I'm not sure I agree that we would have the same problems in society today if we didn't have SM.

 

As long as you have internet you'll end up with some form of SM, What we have now is mass SM. We've had SM since usenet groups/bbs's and the same things happened there too

I've always been wary of social media and anything which involved 'publishing' my life so I've never had a Facebook/Twitter/any other social media account... despite working in IT for my entire working career. Reading the comments above I find it interesting how prevalent FOMO is. Keeping in touch with friends and family can still be done without these platforms and is even easier nowadays. My brother has lived overseas for much of the last 25 years and is currently in Toronto. I Skype him about once a fortnight and we have a chat and keep in touch. No... I don't know what he had for breakfast or which pub he went to last Wednesday but I know the things that were worth chatting about. Similarly, I have to pick up  a phone and call people occasionally and it may cost me a few bucks, but if they are worth having as friends, it is worth it to me.

On a similar vein re the algorithms used, I've found myself using YouTube a bit lately and I'm surprised at how one-tracked the algorithms are on there as well. There is no way you are going to get a balanced view of the world if you watch youtube while logged in! :-)

While I would agree that most online discussions are basically a form of Social Media (this forum/site included), I don't feel that my discussions on GeekZone are impacting what I see on the rest of the web. There is nothing more annoying than being bombarded with ads for something you searched for and bought two weeks ago!

dklong:

 

Reading the comments above I find it interesting how prevalent FOMO is

 

This.

Whenever I suggest to someone they consider giving up FB, the response is invariably "I'd love to, but I need it because ..."

The thing is, you didn't have it 10 or so years ago ... and you got by just fine. Seriously, you did.

I use Twitter - not to post anything, but solely to follow commentators for links to current events, movies, tech etc.

The majority of Twitter posts are either personal attacks on others, often using anonymous accounts, or people trying to show how 'clever' they are, so the list I follow is extremely few (so much so now, I'm on the verge of quitting the platform).

One significant improvement would be for Twitter/Facebook to require proof of identity, including the banning of pseudonyms and false accounts. I'm not holding my breath.

dafman:

 

One significant improvement would be for Twitter/Facebook to require proof of identity, including the banning of pseudonyms and false accounts. I'm not holding my breath.

 

I reported someone who was using a fake name on Facebook. Absolutely nothing happened as a result, but I wasn't surprised.

I use Facebook daily. 

I use it to belong to groups of people with similar interests and hobbies. 

I use it to stay in contact with family overseas and around the country. 

I use it to stay in touch with friends I would otherwise never see. 

I am actually more annoyed at the constant barrage of advertising than anything else, but I can scroll past, so no harm, no foul. 

I don't really think too much about the social harm that the platform causes. I use it as I intend to use it. 

I find Twitter and Instagram far worse than FB for insidious behaviour. The sheer vanity of "Insta Influencers" and the idiots that follow them baffles and annoys me. 

Twitter is full of left and right wing vitriol being spouted by those with not enough or too many teeth. 

Try as you might, you'll never get rid of these things. Social Harm or not, there will simply be something else that replaces them. 

Platforms I am on: 

• FB
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Reddit
• Various Forums
• LinkedIn
• Snapchat (still have no idea how that one works)
• etc

As you can see - I am on most of the usual platforms and I pick and choose what i want to see, then get served a bunch of stuff I don't want to see. They own the platform, they make the rules, I use it or I don't. It's my choice and I choose yes.