Many if not all forms of technology can be put noble or ignoble purposes. Maybe the problem here is that social media is in competition with broadcast and print media, not only for the public's attention and influence, but advertising. Currently, classified advertising is free on Facebook. This used to be the financial lifeblood of newspapers. Jaron Lanier claims that Facebook re-programs your mind. That is exactly what reading newspapers does to you.They make an art form out of pressing emotional buttons. I have never been to the USA but many people tell me that the whole US media is one big propaganda machine. The problem with commercially owned media is one of commercial imperative. There was once a newspaper in the UK called the News Chronicle that was popular with readers but not advertisers. I take part in a FB group called Van Life Australia. I consider sharing your accumulated wisdom to be altruistic. I don't see how taking part in such a group can be considered re-programming my mind. Joining an MLM scheme will re-program your mind and make you less happy. I don't consider myself less happy since joining FB. I have however become happier since deleting membership of dating sites. They are full of fake profiles. Just do an image search with Google. Humans are social creatures. Some people you connect with and others you don't. Question, if I share a thought with someone on FB messenger, will it be detrimental to my mental health, if so will it be detrimental to my mental health if I had do the same thing using SMS or email? Making friends later on in life is not so easy. Facebook can be a solution to staying in touch. What about the positive aspects of social media?I have seen one young man on a huge message-board .When he first started posting, he was at best semi-literate. His content was just regurgitated dogma. Every sentence was riddled with literacy defects. His final postings showed some original thought. There were no typos, spelling errors, punctuation errors, other grammatical errors or syntax errors. I think writing and getting into robust discussion can be beneficial to personal development. It is of course possible to find yourself in the wrong group. I once joined a skeptics group. I was looking forward to some thought provoking discussion. Instead I found the biggest bunch of reactionary , dogmatic, denialist bigots I ever came across. It seemed beyond their collective comprehension that science is full of controversy. Nothing skeptical about that lot at all. One guy there was 100% certain about AGW; 100% certain about the safety and efficacy of every vaccine ever produced past present and future; 100% certain that LDL cholesterol is the one and only cause of CVD. In his words, "There is no other plausible explanation."
I like the dude, he has been warning for the bad sides of the interwebz.... for more then 10 years To the OP, i dont think you get the message he is trying to preach.....or tell. Look at what "social media" does to younger generations and how it influences mainstream "media" and RL. Imo it is not just about " social" media but about the hole interwebz and how we deal with it and how depended/influenced we are. No need to be paranoide, but be conscious/aware Data collection........And stuff like the metaverse and the interwebz of everything is stuff you should be aware off(sillicon valley).................never forget how the interwebz started. Mzzls
I usually use duckduckgo for searching unless I am looking for face recognition. I surf with Firefox and have an anti-tracking plug in. The other day I looked up a recipe for fried chicken and there was a side advert for women's clothing , so data attempts to track me are not quite working. Anyway, is there not some positive aspect to Google such as the translation service?
So do i, but there is a rumour duck duck has already been bought up by Google.......lol. If you do your taxes(online)the goverment already knows everything.........hope they protect it........same with every other online service. Hard to escape the interwebz these days, just be aware of things.......your interwebz footprint. The Internet is a good thing imo, social/knowledge/entertainment/ect, it is more how depended we are and how much we let it control us Mzzls
