In the same boat, its on the playlist this week.

Have heard its pretty eye opening

We’re halfway through watching it with our eldest (nearly 13) - would certainly recommend those with kids of a relevant age doing the same as it’s a great conversation starter, even if like in our case it sets the scene to explain why he’s not on social media.

I watched it last night with my other half. All the way through it she was busy scrolling on her phone; I don't think it sunk in.

I'd love to close my FB account but there are a few groups on there that I find useful for sharing info about my hobbies.

MurrayM:

 

I watched it last night with my other half. All the way through it she was busy scrolling on her phone; I don't think it sunk in.

 

I'd love to close my FB account but there are a few groups on there that I find useful for sharing info about my hobbies.

 

If you follow trash, you will get bombarded with trash, monkey see, monkey do.

If you follow good things, you can uplift your mood and spirit.

E.G. I am a member/mod of a Bug identification group. We've got several thousand people onboard and are responsible for identifying hundreds of critters every week for free for people. So in my facebook page, I frequently see bugs of all shapes and sizes and quite often get people who are considerably less afraid of bugs and some who have even conquered their arachnophobia thanks  directly to the page. It's really heartwarming to see people post pics of their resident spiders, some they've had for years in their car/house and we can identify them and sometimes even mourn their loss when die.

I do not follow/like CNN/Stuff/Nzherald etc and carefully curate my likes/dislikes to ensure the algorithm shows me things I want to see.

Life is what you make of it, and so long as you benefit from the transaction of your data for a free place to share with likeminded people then why not? Facebook will track you regardless of whether you have an account or not.

Please don't misunderstand me Social media plays an abhorrent and diabolical part in our lives and has directly caused many deaths. It's obscenely evil and Facebook as a company are the equivalent of tobacco or big oil companies. 


My somewhat hypocritical usage whilst condemning the very company I freely give data is akin to despising BP for their oil spills and then going to them because they have cheap petrol. 

I watched it a few weeks back. It was an eye-opener as to the level of psychology that goes into the algorithms. I don’t do much social media, GZ is the main one, the other is Youtube (no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TicTok).

I decided to see if I could ‘influence’ the YT algorithm by viewing particular videos and avoiding certain recommendations. Over time there was a noticeable shift in recommendations. It appears it doesn’t matter what you watch, as long as you watch.

The real value in watching The Social Dilemma is so that you are aware of what you are signing up to.

I use it much like Tehgerbil, for a couple of niche groups and that's it. I don't follow anything, unfollow all my friends, I get out of exactly what I want (bike and car parts!) and not much more, in exchange for my data, which hopefully isn't terribly useful.

But I type this as an almost forty somewhat cynical adult, so I can make my own choices. But I agree, for those younger, well what do you do? Will parents have to resist kids getting phones? Or be extremely vigilant about what can be installed on them?

I wonder how hard it would be to manage a phone as a parent, I use an iPhone for work, that is extremely locked down. The email client cannot save anything outside it's container etc, can't install unapproved apps etc, which is fine, we have a dedicated app for my actual work which replaced a massive PDA so I love it. But how hard is that to do on a kid's phone?

I use android personally but I assume you can limit stuff that is installed on those too?

Its made me think about using these apps on mobile phones, and when I do use them use private browsing mode (if that even helps much these days)

Got it on my list to watch.... 

Out of the mainstream social media sites out there, I'm probably a member of them all, but don't use them every day. Facebook I'd be happy without but have so many other sites/apps tied to it now, its a lost cause.... 

mudguard:

 

I wonder how hard it would be to manage a phone as a parent, I use an iPhone for work, that is extremely locked down. The email client cannot save anything outside it's container etc, can't install unapproved apps etc, which is fine, we have a dedicated app for my actual work which replaced a massive PDA so I love it. But how hard is that to do on a kid's phone?

 

I use android personally but I assume you can limit stuff that is installed on those too?

 

Two key parts to that - not just the technical side (controlling what the kid’s phone/other device is used for), but also the social - getting the buy-in or at least begrudging acceptance from the kid to those limitations!

The technical side is relatively easy as there are decent apps that can help with this; we use Google’s own Family Link on Android phones and Chromebooks plus Kidslock on iPads. The kids permission to install apps, can block sites etc..

As for the people part of it - luckily my older kid hasn’t shown much interest in Instabook etc; he had been a user of Musically (before it was Tiktok) but wasn’t too upset when we removed that. Our theory is best to minimise its use in first place while also educating him of what’s behind the curtain, than trying to reign it in once the horse has bolted (to mix my metaphors).

You can probably tell from my profile sig my thoughts on this. I read Jared Laniers (who appears in the documentary) book, 10 arguments for deleting social media, some time back and did exactly that. I only use this site and Linkedin (Purely in a professional sense). My major bugbear is the damage these companies are doing to society in general, depressed kids and more extremist views being the worst.

Take the anti-vax movement as an example, social media allowed a small niche viewpoint to go global with zero fact-checking and in many cases actually pushed the message as it got more likes/clicks. The extreme right and leftwing views are much the same where these "tools" create massive echo chambers where the participants just keep amping each other up to more and more extreme views.

I've posted here before that to me "I just use it to access this that group" is a bit of a cop out as you are still supporting these companies by using their platforms so in my mind you are still part of the problem. There is only one way these companies will change, if enough people delete their accounts.

geekiegeek:

 

I've posted here before that to me "I just use it to access this that group" is a bit of a cop out as you are still supporting these companies by using their platforms so in my mind you are still part of the problem. There is only one way these companies will change, if enough people delete their accounts.

 

The problem with that argument is that there isn't a choice anymore, it's use the platform or nothing. In the last twenty years I've joined numerous forums that relate to my interests (like geekzone), but one by one they are being replaced by Facebook groups and turn into ghost towns where the most recent posts are months old. No good when I'm trying to find a throttle body or inlet manifold. 

I don't think we should be burning fossil fuels like we do, the problem is my job needs me to physically audit equipment all over the country every thirty days. That's a lot of fuel. Every day I think about technical solutions that would replace my job, but still the alternatives are too expensive. 

ghettomaster: @tehgerbill - have you watched the documentary?

Not yet, but I am familiar with practically most companies in that line of work that work closely with psychologists (game companies are really good at this) to ensure their subjects are as engaged as possible - heart rate sensors, retinal tracking etc the whole shebang from the user side, and insane levels of software tracking, not just location, but your favourite colours, voting preferences etc.

I mean Facebook literally tracks your freaking mouse movements and location on screen to gather as much feedback data as possible! It's nuts how little people realise every little movement you make is tracked and monetized wherever possible!

Our cellphone apps are just little mobile dopamine dispensaries. 

tehgerbil:
Call me naïve but I genuinely think social media is for the most part what you make of it.

 

If you follow trash, you will get bombarded with trash, monkey see, monkey do.

 

Please don't misunderstand me Social media plays an abhorrent and diabolical part in our lives and has directly caused many deaths. It's obscenely evil and Facebook as a company are the equivalent of tobacco or big oil companies. 

There is serious concern that the US is heading in the right direction for a civil war.  

You are either left, or right.  In the tribe, or out. And, social media is driving this wedge in tight. 

Also, I'm not sure it highlighted mental health concerns enough. Kids at my daughters school seem to be going nuts, suicide attempts, counselling, cutting ... more so among girls, but some boys too.. it almost seems to be the norm rather than the exception. 

surfisup1000:

 

Also, I'm not sure it highlighted mental health concerns enough. Kids at my daughters school seem to be going nuts, suicide attempts, counselling, cutting ... more so among girls, but some boys too.. it almost seems to be the norm rather than the exception. 

 

Its very sad, and these companies are profiting megabucks off it