The Social Media Dilemma

Report back with your findings :slightly_smiling_face:

I’m going through a process of reducing my online time. Social media gone, all notifications off and switch my phone off, when going to bed.
Seems to annoy other people a lot, is my early impression 3 months in.

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welp, the notion of deleting twitter just got a whole lot easier. https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/25/tech/elon-musk-twitter-sale-agreement/index.html

elon has his fans (i’m not one of them). i will say this: the only reason twitter worked is because everyone was on it. other than that, it’s stupid - the arbitrary character limit, the shitty algorithm, the inconsistent “blue check” system, the acres of bots and disinformation. elon cannot fix this. elon can’t fix anything, as far as i can tell.

i did like all of the different twitter cultures - i was never into techno twitter, but i did like basketball twitter, dumb joke twitter, pro-union twitter, dunking-on-idiots twitter, all of that stuff. there’s no reason that a different platform couldn’t pop up and replace it, other than tech dicks like elon and zucc will either spend outrageously to hold them out of the public square, or they will buy them up and dilute them with the same crappiness they’ve spread over all the other products they own.

here’s what twitter didn’t do - it didn’t do a good job of connecting people who really do know and like each other, and help them stay connected. maybe the next plat-forum will do that. if the billionaires allow it. maybe that’s why i love this place so much - i trust it and it’s future.

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I got rid of Facebook a couple of years ago when people I knew on there were spouting ant-Vax, Covid conspiracy shite. I think the next one I’ll delete will be Twitter, now Musk has bought it. His statements about free speech make me think that it will become even more of a cesspit of disinformation and conspiracy theories. Pretty sure Trump will have his account reinstated before the mid term elections too. No thanks.

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This is really nice to read. It also feels like more good people are joining the conversation too.

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This thing came along at a time when I really needed something improving and non-toxic to get stuck into. It’s stayed that way too.
But if you want to sell it to a billionaire, we’ll understand, everyone has to pay the mortgage.

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Ha. If a billionaire comes along we’ll sell it then go and set a new one up. Tbh TP (the website) needs to be updated as to what it does as its just too much noise these days and not enough focus so I am working on that but this place is just naturally going in the right direction. We get our odd special visitor and bar that it all feels good.

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I think the issue with social media is it continuously tries to put us in a box of outrage rather than unify us. It’s middle school for adults.

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Someone once described twitter as a self help group where nothing gets solved.

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I have never joined twitter or Facebook, never felt the need.,was on a few skate, ibiza and music forum over the years and an Instagram account for keeping up with the kardashians… TP has been a life saver since it started up :pray::green_heart:

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Took me years to get the hang of twitter but recently its been brilliant for me, met loadsa new folk, learning different languages, following everyone from old pals to Japanese spacerock bands, and finally finding my niche after caring for way too long about appealing to everyone. Generally avoid political arguments now and life is better. I don’t go on there to nerd either tbh, but the likes of trevor jackson, posthuman etc are usually good value. I really hope Musk doesn’t mess it all up with ads, popups etc

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A young person described it to me as “a comment section attached to absolutely no content”

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I’ll second all of the above. Had some great recommendations, stuff to watch and read and general positive vibe has been much needed on this forum.

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Everything that was ever good about any platform - from Tumblr, to Facebook, Instagram etc etc has been corrupted and taken out of the hands of the user and into the arms of greed, controlled by those who can make a dollar or steer things into waters that have no real benefit to the the consumer whatsoever.

It’s a real shame - all of us here are old enough to have been the Internet’s first adopters and much like the way dance parties were a wild uncharted world we experienced unbridled, so was social media. Looking back on MySpace and it’s innocent charm feels like a lifetime ago.

I’ve never been a Twitter user - I’m already a slave to enough apps such as Facebook and Instagram. Both have caused me anxiety over the years, but both have given me access to opportunities I could never ever have achieved otherwise. I do know that having teenage kids, it can really fuck with them on a social level when it comes to bullying etc. Where it will head in the next 10 years, I’m sure we can’t possibly predict. I just hope there appear some altruistic alternatives to what we have now.

“If it’s free, then you’re the product”

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Places like this forum and other similar ones are a nice change in the right direction. Too much in life seems to be based around antagonism right now, and at a time when we really need bringing together and be more community based.

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Only thing is that this is free, well I say that but the amount of records, clothes, books, beer and socks I have bought off recommendations suggests otherwise!

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:vulcan_salute:t3: Greetings earth people. My findings reductively are as follows-

Time spent on the internet is almost always better spent elsewhere. More books get read. More walks are taken. More tapes and music listened to. I plan on checking in here from time to time and I’ve learned that you can open the damn search engine long enough to get some info and then CLOSE it. Browsing sucks you in to a stupid pointless vortex. I’m just more mindful of how I use my time and can really feel the difference that a 30 day absence made.

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Welcome back!

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Welcome back :green_heart:

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This is my rule on Insta where I basically don’t follow anyone I know

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