All the warnings I've ever made about social media (via social media)
Here are some instances of me using the beast to ponder or offer advice on the beast. Most are pulled from the boss beast itself, Facebook, and the first is pulled from my first blog paranoid momdroid (the blog is now unpublished, too much cringe).
You'll note that my skepticism and distrust of our online spaces has always been healthy, and you'll also note that I'm still here. I stay because after 15 years, detangling is not so simple, and because I've invested this much time watching the slow motion social car crash, why look away now.
And, not to brag but I gotta say, in all humility, I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG.
April 6, 2010 - paranoid momdroid post titled "The Internet is Ruining Everything"
(Note from my current self, please excuse the excitable writing style.)
During a recent conversation about whether the internet ought to be a basic human right, I was struck by a thought: we're devolving. Oh my god, we're totally devolving and it's the internet's fault.
The conversation went something like this:
Argument A - the internet is a slough of blithering non-facts and entertainment, another platform for money-making and population surveillance, and why the hell should those things be accessible to every human on the planet?
Argument B - because of our global economy and online transcontinental communities, the internet is imperative for any human being to be a part of said economy and communities. Also, its educational value should be available to everyone.
My points were nestled in argument A. I see the internet as 98% spazzertainment, marketing, wasted time, and antisocial networking (probably 75% of that is porn). The remaining 2% are useful things like online banking, online college courses, and wikipedia. The first two of those things still involve cash dollars – it's not like giving someone internet access will mean that a degree is that much more available. Most neato online resources still cost a bit o' cash, as well as a postal address for sending real life materials.
Anyway, the value of the internet can be debated until everyone is purple in the face and we're all annoyed with each other for stupid reasons. Here's the clincher though: let's saaaaayy... 50 years down the road oil and fossil fuels become too scarce and expensive for personal use. Aannnnd because most governments will deny this until we're all screwed, things like, ohhhh... electricity might be hard for people to come by. Not just for third worldies, either. For all of us. SO, after spending 50 years transferring all of our knowledge onto our infinitely precious world wide web, suddenly none of our power outlets are any good. Plugging in will be spotty at best, and our bank accounts, social lives, collective histories, memories, educational whatevers... all unavailable. Without computers to think, store, spell-check, and communicate with, we'd be left in a giant chasm of non thinking and complete empty headedness.
Take the recent dumbing down of Scrabble, for example. Proper nouns are now allowed because the general populace probably doesn't know the difference between a proper noun and a regular noun. Everyone's grammar stinks. Nobody knows how to spell. Where computers used to fill in for our mathematical weaknesses, they are now compensating our inabilities to use words. Our over-enthusiasm for a posthuman culture is not turning us into super cool cyborgs or lawnmowermen, it's turning us into soft, stupid husks that no longer bother to learn or remember anything because it's all a finger tap away. Soon enough, we won't even have to tap our fingers. Our little brain chips will keep us online all the time and the internet will suck our brains dry like a hoover. We'll think that we're an incredibly advanced civilization, until the power flicks off and we're sitting in our dark, ugly cubicles – atrophied, useless bodies and all hints of natural instincts and survival impulses evaporated. From single-celled blobs to multi-celled blobs, back from whence we came.
I'm pretty sure that our achilles heel is the internet. The more we convince ourselves that we need it to live, the more we will need it to live. It isn't a basic human right, it's a general human want.
When my powerbook recently died, I went a week without having immediate access to the internet. We still had a computer hooked up to our TV, but it was cumbersome to use for email and stuff, so I wasn't online much. As the days passed I realized with growing shame that, without it, I was becoming a more attentive and pleasant mother. I had more patience and my kids seemed far less whiney. I was also talking to more people on the phone, reading more books, and having less headaches. I felt happier and was enjoying "real life". As far as work went though, I was falling way behind. I got the new laptop and am now back at it, juggling about five different commitments at once, "needing" to check every email and messaging account several times a day. When I got the new computer, I was excited but also kind of regretful. I think I'd be better off without it, but with no car and tons of extracurricular responsibilities, how else do I keep on top of everything?
To the limited extent that we are already "plugged in" to our internettings, what would happen if we were unplugged right now? It'd be like withdrawal from an addiction. It'd be shitty, but we'd eventually get over it and remember that most of us were alive in the 90s before we needed it. 50 years from now, will we actually be able to live without it? Who will remember how to? Doesn't that vulnerability scare the living piss out of anyone else??
The conversation went something like this:
Argument A - the internet is a slough of blithering non-facts and entertainment, another platform for money-making and population surveillance, and why the hell should those things be accessible to every human on the planet?
Argument B - because of our global economy and online transcontinental communities, the internet is imperative for any human being to be a part of said economy and communities. Also, its educational value should be available to everyone.
My points were nestled in argument A. I see the internet as 98% spazzertainment, marketing, wasted time, and antisocial networking (probably 75% of that is porn). The remaining 2% are useful things like online banking, online college courses, and wikipedia. The first two of those things still involve cash dollars – it's not like giving someone internet access will mean that a degree is that much more available. Most neato online resources still cost a bit o' cash, as well as a postal address for sending real life materials.
Anyway, the value of the internet can be debated until everyone is purple in the face and we're all annoyed with each other for stupid reasons. Here's the clincher though: let's saaaaayy... 50 years down the road oil and fossil fuels become too scarce and expensive for personal use. Aannnnd because most governments will deny this until we're all screwed, things like, ohhhh... electricity might be hard for people to come by. Not just for third worldies, either. For all of us. SO, after spending 50 years transferring all of our knowledge onto our infinitely precious world wide web, suddenly none of our power outlets are any good. Plugging in will be spotty at best, and our bank accounts, social lives, collective histories, memories, educational whatevers... all unavailable. Without computers to think, store, spell-check, and communicate with, we'd be left in a giant chasm of non thinking and complete empty headedness.
Take the recent dumbing down of Scrabble, for example. Proper nouns are now allowed because the general populace probably doesn't know the difference between a proper noun and a regular noun. Everyone's grammar stinks. Nobody knows how to spell. Where computers used to fill in for our mathematical weaknesses, they are now compensating our inabilities to use words. Our over-enthusiasm for a posthuman culture is not turning us into super cool cyborgs or lawnmowermen, it's turning us into soft, stupid husks that no longer bother to learn or remember anything because it's all a finger tap away. Soon enough, we won't even have to tap our fingers. Our little brain chips will keep us online all the time and the internet will suck our brains dry like a hoover. We'll think that we're an incredibly advanced civilization, until the power flicks off and we're sitting in our dark, ugly cubicles – atrophied, useless bodies and all hints of natural instincts and survival impulses evaporated. From single-celled blobs to multi-celled blobs, back from whence we came.
I'm pretty sure that our achilles heel is the internet. The more we convince ourselves that we need it to live, the more we will need it to live. It isn't a basic human right, it's a general human want.
When my powerbook recently died, I went a week without having immediate access to the internet. We still had a computer hooked up to our TV, but it was cumbersome to use for email and stuff, so I wasn't online much. As the days passed I realized with growing shame that, without it, I was becoming a more attentive and pleasant mother. I had more patience and my kids seemed far less whiney. I was also talking to more people on the phone, reading more books, and having less headaches. I felt happier and was enjoying "real life". As far as work went though, I was falling way behind. I got the new laptop and am now back at it, juggling about five different commitments at once, "needing" to check every email and messaging account several times a day. When I got the new computer, I was excited but also kind of regretful. I think I'd be better off without it, but with no car and tons of extracurricular responsibilities, how else do I keep on top of everything?
To the limited extent that we are already "plugged in" to our internettings, what would happen if we were unplugged right now? It'd be like withdrawal from an addiction. It'd be shitty, but we'd eventually get over it and remember that most of us were alive in the 90s before we needed it. 50 years from now, will we actually be able to live without it? Who will remember how to? Doesn't that vulnerability scare the living piss out of anyone else??
May 21, 2010
seriously... facebook is really cranking out the suck: "there is a NEW PRIVACY setting called "Instant Personalization" that shares data with non-Facebook websites and it is automatically set to "Allow." Go to Account>Privacy Settings >Applications and Websites > Instant Personalization, and uncheck "Allow". BTW if your friends don't do this, they will be sharing... information about you.
August 12, 2010
dammit facebook is onto me! it's asking me to like "mormon family tsking and judging my life", "I have kids", and "I leave my other profile open for family and started this one for fun"... MUST GO DEEPER INTO THE FAKE INTERNET. or live exclusively in reality, but we all know how much THAT sucks.
April 3, 2011
quiet hungover afternoon and feeling the urge to tell facebook my interests. is this a symptom of exhibitionistic narcissism or just needing human contact?
June 26, 2011
Oops no real feelings on the internet. Dammit that rule is slippery.
November 18, 2011
I am a merciless and cold-blooded facebook defriender because who cares.
October 23, 2013
"Online connectivity has spread throughout the world, bringing that world closer together, and with it the promise, if not to level the playing field between rich and poor, corporations and individuals, then to make it less uneven."
"But while we were having fun, we happily and willingly helped to create the greatest surveillance system ever imagined, a web whose strings give governments and businesses countless threads to pull, which makes us…puppets. The free flow of information over the Internet (except in places where that flow is blocked), which serves us well, may serve others better."
March 15, 2016
The thrill of a communications plan coming together - having a "god I love my job moment" over here.
Also that thing where a joke turns into a brainwave: the joke being "a media release that just reads 'pls RT'" (I tweeted it a little while ago, if you don't follow me that's cool I guess whatever) - but now my brain is exploding re: the value of a RT vs a traditional media release.
Social media is still more or less an unknown to many public organizations, and the value of an engaged online following is only JUST being realized in many orgs' strategic plans (and barely, at that). Between rotating staff who take social media on as a sub-task, unclear messaging, and not having a system in place for measuring impact, many orgs see social media as a vague, kinda-not-really-useful tool that they'll "figure out eventually".
MEANWHILE literally everyone is plugged in, relying more heavily on our feeds for news and updates that shape how we choose to present ourselves/lives and our circles of awareness. Folks follow orgs they love on social media not for their content, necessarily, but because it shapes their online realities. We review and judge others' online circles and interests to assess where and how we fit into them, and we shape our own online presences to draw like-minded folks in. We're marketing ourselves. Personal brands are nothing new for comedians and internet personalities, but a lot of "regular" folks don't realize they've become mini-marketing campaigns for "Me". I don't have studies in front of me to back that up, but shaddup it's happening. It's how social media works.
Given how quickly we consume and share information, asking an organization, journalist, media affiliate, or politician to read and respond to a traditional media release is asking a lot. They have to read the release, negotiate how to disseminate it, and then once they find a place for it, what is the reach or impact achieved through it? If you don't get a feature in the Herald, how has all that time and effort paid off for your business/organization? How does it benefit those you're asking for hype, if at all? Media outlets are struggling too, space and resources are limited for everyone.
Social media releases are a thing, according to the google search I just did, but the ones I've seen still ask for too much. Dumping a jumble of quotes, links, RSS feeds, downloads, photos, handles, and hashtags onto a page... blah. You're still asking someone to read/disseminate for 30min to an hour, confer with their editors/supervisors, hum and haw over what to do with the info - it's still taxing on them. You're still running the risk of becoming white noise, which is where communications go to die.
So my brainwave was this: what about simply inviting everyone to a "social media scrum" - sending an invite that specifies on a specific date and time you will tweet your thing (and if you bung that tweet up by not making it legible or providing a link to more info, pls turn in your twitter password and go sit down for a while), and ask orgs, media affiliates, politicians, community pals, to simply check in and RT. The communications personnel click a button, the journalists click a button, the organizations click a button, the executive directors click a button, the mayors' assistants click a button - hooray your message is out, no skin off anyone's sack. Easy peasy. You've just leveraged a ton of neglected social media plans into a lil communications goldmine. Well done.
I might be way off or way behind, but given what I'm seeing re: how orgs use their social media platforms while still adhering to traditional communications strategies, I don't think I am.
Anyway I'm excited to put this idea into action and see how it goes.
November 9, 2016
best step towards self care right now is stepping away from social media.
social media didn't solve or help this past year of nonsense. if anything it amplified it. you won't miss anything by taking a break. text your friends, talk about your feelings in person. ditch the blue light and prioritize sleep. the world needs you rested and present. this place will only grind you down.
November 18, 2016
More thoughts on the effectiveness and purpose of post-Trump social media. Thinking about this a lot, obvs. I'll reiterate that I think social media is a potentially dangerous social experiment we are unwittingly (or wittingly, I guess) participating in, and that it can't hurt to consider more carefully how we use it.
"5. Since people use Facebook not to be informed but to belong or be connected or to get attention or to be entertained, any information on Facebook will be used to those ends and not the ends of constructing a more accurate understanding of the world. (It is not like Google, which people don’t use to perform or express themselves but to get information they need. Google has economic incentives to be accurate.) The presence of outrageously fake news on Facebook may even remind users of this, that what they are seeing is an entertainment-oriented reflection of the world they would like to see and believe in, not the world as it is."
Quote from ROBHORNINGREALLIFE.TUMBLR.COM (source link no longer active)
January 19, 2017
YOU GUYS. boycott K*vin O'Le*ry from your feeds and lives. DO NOT FEED THE TROLL. social media sharing and raging helped Trump by emboldening and empowering anti-liberal trolls, let's learn from that and resist taking the same bait.
unless it's an ACTIONABLE call to DO SOMETHING, spreading his face and message is only helping him. please be conscientious. flood your feeds with the good faces and messages. please please please.
April 5, 2017
Don't know how many times I've said "social media is a messed up social experiment and we're all suckers" but this backs me UP. Psychometrics and “behavioral microtargeting” are real and we're all dummies. Stay aware and critical of what the algorithms are feeding you. I mean, don't be paranoid, but also, be preeeetty paranoid.
"The term “propaganda” has been replaced by “a behavioral approach to persuasive communication with quantifiable results.”"
February 9, 2018
[This was shared with a group in my farming business course]
Woke up with marketing & PR on my mind, and thought I'd share some unsolicited advice! Take it or leave it, it's mostly relevant to anyone looking to build their farm as a business with a public profile:
My background is in marketing and communications, and I've also experienced moderate successes in the arts (visual art and comedy). Not everyone can throw together a marketing strategy themselves, and the tips in this course are SO GOOD. Be the face of your business! Have a tight website! Utilize social media as your most valuable marketing tool!
Even a basic marketing strategy needs a basic PR (Public Relations) plan. I'm not even talking about fielding requests from the fawning media (BLESS YOU IF THAT COMES), I'm talking about TROLLS. If you plan to jump into the public sphere with your face front and center, you NEED a troll policy. And if you're a social media newbie, I have news for you: IT'S A MESS. People are bonkers! And the greater your success, the more bonkers they get! It's SO MUCH easier to navigate if you have a policy in place!
To start, there is one thing trolls want: YOUR ATTENTION. They feed on it. It is their sustenance. The hard and fast rule is DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS. Do NOT engage them! Ever! In any way! However, not every troll is a 13 year old angsty tween sitting in his basement looking to cause a ruckus. In my experience, there are several kinds of trolls, ie:
1. THE JERK: This person could be any age and any gender, but whoever they are, they are unhappy. And your happiness really burns them up for some reason. They want to get under your skin. They take delicious pleasure in raining on your parade. Don't try to get into their heads to understand them, it will only cause your own head to implode. HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM: Shed one tear of compassion for their sad state and then IGNORE/BLOCK (and REPORT if they're being mega jerks).
2. THE PERV: Enough said. BLOCK/REPORT.
3. THE FANATIC: This is a much trickier sort of troll. This person LOVES YOU. They love you so much. Oh my god they love you. They think about you. A lot. They are the first to comment on anything you post, on any platform. Their hands are locked in undying applause for you. They are the heart eyes emoji personified. These folks are hard to deal with because it's NICE when people support you! Passive support from strangers is great! "PASSIVE" is key though. Support with no strings of emotional reciprocation attached, because you're a business. They support with their dollars, you reciprocate with a product. You share select pieces of yourself and your life through your marketing, done deal.
Except fanatics are not satisfied with that arrangement. Over time you may notice there is really only one thing they want: YOUR ATTENTION, which to them also means your TIME. You've become a drug to them and any acknowledgement of them is their "hit". You will notice that when you pull away they become frantic, even aggressive. For the most part, they're harmless. But not always. Like any addict, they will sometimes resort to more desperate measures to get a piece of you. BOUNDARIES are crucial. The moment your gut says "this is weird", start drawing those lines. Do not risk giving them access to you beyond what any other JoePublic has. If they turn aggressive, BLOCK/REPORT. And maybe call the police. I personally have dealt with a few of these people and it suuuucks. Draw those lines as soon as your gut twitches, it will save you so much stress in the long run.
And the fourth kind of troll is:
4. YOUR MOM: jk she's the best. She's just trying to be helpful.
How much you give of yourself through your business and online is totally up to you, and being open about your life and your story will net a fantastic connection with your audience. I've ALWAYS been very autobiographical in my public pursuits, it's probably why I've had any successes at all. But HAVE A PLAN. What will you do if some of that audience becomes a problem? If someone really wanted to eff you up, could they? What fail safes do you have in place? I'm not talking about putting up a security gate around your house, but in the same way we all practice our emergency escape routes at work or school, you should have a plan in place in case things get hairy. Be very aware of what info you're sharing publicly, and who will see it. And above all, NEVER FEED THE TROLLS. Ignore. Block. Report.
And maybe this was already covered and I haven't read it yet. In which case: I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING THEY SAID. Be safe, lovelies!
October 17, 2018
I saw a post that noted how millennials experience time differently, and it's been sticking in my head because I've been thinking a lot about how WEIRD time feels lately. I'm on the tail end of Gen X, so I can't speak to the millennial experience, but I think I have a theory re: this time thing.
Spoiler: I'm basically just gonna blame social media for everything, so here it is:
KAY so social media... the onerous and grotesque spawn of The Internet. Everyone gets a platform. Popular opinions are boosted and rewarded by algorithms, and we've learned popular opinions are not always good opinions ("good" defined by our own sense of correctness, or by our likeminded communities, or by history). Bots swarm and skew everything. Most users are legitimately addicted, and it's been proven to have *really* negative impacts on mental health. BUT it also legitimately connects us to others and makes us very aware of the beautiful moments in our lives. It's a terrible problem.
ANYWAY. Remember back in the early 2000s when the internet was still kinda new, and people started saying "hey be careful what you put on there, it stays there FOREVER". We learned about mysterious digital back doors where every angsty blog post you ever thought was a good & cool idea, but was actually the worst, lived on, despite having shamefully deleted it years ago. The internet was CCing everything. Why? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Before we were given the chance to slow down the experiment of "ONLINE EGO EXALTATION, OMG PEOPLE CAN SEE ME" and measure its implications, social media busted in like Kool-Aid Man, presenting us with all kinds of ways to radiate cooler, happier, and smarter versions of ourselves online. Stalking became casual entertainment, cuteness became a drug, and cellar trolls found a place to call home.
And then OMG! The advertisers clued in! Quickly followed by special interest corporations, and eventually followed by government, who were brought up to speed by special interest corporations, waving their magic wands of REACH and ECONOMIC BENEFIT in politicians' ding dong faces. Print media suddenly started looking way too expensive, and advertisers opted for algorithmic reach. The remaining vestibules of print media were swallowed by special interest corporations, rich people who love fashion, and government-funded artists who love holding pretty things.
I'm digressing. It's easy to get distracted. TIME. That's what this was about, right?
Okay so. Posting feels good. It's pretty much innate at this point, it's part of our digital culture. We all do it. If you don't do it, good for you. You won't ever see this so DOUBLE good for you. Posting FEEEELS GOOOOD. When I'm writing, I can hear the words in my brain and I'm excited to share. There's a lot of talk about "mindfulness" these days, and what better tool do we have for slowing down and appreciating our lives? Thinking through ideas? Sharing small, beautiful moments? Even while I work on the farm, when I'm out wandering and see something amazing, but realize I've forgotten my phone, I feel disappointed. Like "what a shame my eyes are the only eyes seeing this". It feels like a tiny loss, a missed moment. Being able to document it, then FREEZE it in time by sharing it... it feels like a *good* thing, y'know? It feels like mindfulness. Like I'm appreciating this world fully by magnifying it. And when others see it and appreciate it too, how lovely!! A little boost for everyone.
So we're FREEZING all these moments in time. We're curating our online realities (that most of us are fully invested in) with these frozen moments. And not just moments. Thoughts. Arguments. Bursts of passion, compassion, joy, despair. We're FREEZING them here. And long after the moment has passed for us, we're pulled back in with every like, comment, or share. Even weeks after we think those moments have been resolved and archived, we're reeled back in by new reactions. We become chained to those moments, accidentally defining ourselves by passing musings. We of course have the option to delete "old" posts, but it goes against our addictive urges. We've limited our freedom to move forward by publicly archiving ourselves and our opinions.
And how many times have you thought "I'm just gonna pop in and see what's up", only to end up COMPLETELY immersed, your mind stimulated and your core inspired... a five minute video feels like a journey, you spend an hour trying to articulate a tight response to a tweet, a simple comment starts a chain reaction that steers weeks or months of your life. Online time feels a bit like "dream time", where a moment can feel like years.
And then suddenly you're a decade older, and you can't remember what you were doing five minutes ago.
So yes, I think we're experiencing time differently now. It's weird and unsettling, and it's creating a discord that is being exploited by those who control the algorithms. At this point saying "get offline" feels like an empty and hypocritical plea. I don't have a clever conclusion to this. It's been two hours since I started writing it and I should probably get back to whatever I was doing.
April 9, 2019
Social media is ruining democracy/elections via memes. I sound like a grandma here, but here I go:
Political memes are “memes” because they strike an emotional chord that prompts others to share. They pare down complex, nuanced ideas and concepts into snappy mic drops (dear god am I sick of mic drops), and make people feel clever and correct for relating to them. They prey on fear, anger, and cynicism. And they often appear magically from the void with thousands of likes, giving us the impression they are factually sound (likes can easily be bought). “Everyone seems to agree with my anger, therefore my anger is justified!”. They are rarely based in facts or whole truths.
IMO, memes are the reason we’ve lost a sense of mutual respect and balanced discourse when it comes time to weigh things like elections. People who use social media heavily are being psychologically manipulated by strategic meme machines. It’s tearing is apart.
Most reputable, balanced media sources please? I have my own, but would love more suggestions for journalistic media (local and otherwise) that isn’t in the pockets of partisan dinosaurs, extremism, or memey mic drops.
December 11, 2019
I keep seeing posts on various platforms about how facebook, twitter, tumblr, and to a lesser extent instagram, are all starting to feel "deserted" or stagnant. Some people are buzzing about the next new platforms, asking for invites, gettin' on them waiting lists, etc...
We've spent about a decade in these places now, remember how we used to regularly purge our "friends" lists? Remember how we used to "follow back" and get to know people? Remember the internet before memes and mic drops, when starting a group among friends for "best photoshopped pics" was enough, and none of those pics were designed or meant to go viral?
These platforms have been rejigged, hacked, gamed, whatever... to serve capital or political interests, and the "freedoms" we once had here simply no longer exist. We're data. That's it.
MAYBE it's okay that these places are getting quiet. Why are we complaining? Like are we upset that our friends have checked out? Jesus, good for them! Maybe it's okay that people are getting wise to the algorithms and unplugging from these daily manipulation machines. Maybe feeling jaded by social media is exactly how we should be feeling, and is really just a symptom of our brains begging us to shut it down.
I recently tried returning to twitter and it's already completely messing with my head. Like if a post doesn't tap into the zeitgeist, it's worthless and embarrassing. And if it DOES tap in, it's just a headache that consumes energy and doesn't benefit real life at all. Mega accounts steal original content freely, celebrity tweets become headlines, bad, stupid opinions are celebrated and the lines between irony and sincerity have been fully washed away. What's the point of feeding that machine?
And now the weirdest thing is that I find the most "online fulfillment" through my business accounts, because engagement correlates directly with paying my bills. So I've basically joined the "capital interests" party (but I try to do it in a way that offers reprieve from the grossness of the internet! Yay flowers!).
Anyway, it's all such a big problem. I've said it so many times before, but social media has always been a dangerous experiment. No one is going to start a platform that doesn't hinge on us behaving like consumers. There's no "grass is greener" besides developing personal relationships the old fashioned way. Social media made us think we could circumvent the social awkwardness and insecurity we felt in the real world, yet it somehow only magnified it.
Making new friends and maintaining old ones is a lot of work for some of us, but at least we can do it without being constantly monitored and appraised by corporate interests? Real life is still cumbersome and scary, it always will be. But the payoff of support and human warmth doesn't vanish when the wifi does.
So that's my take. Let these places get stale. Let social media die. We can do better.
And the irony of posting these things on social media is not lost on me (and the algorithms will surely bury it), but here you are, a user of social media! Just the person I wanted to read it! Saaawish!
July 6, 2020
Because social media is mainly about data mining, I've started thinking about these platforms as "the mines", ie: "how much time should I spend in the mines today", "hm who's yelling in the mines this morning", or "yikes I've been in the mines too long".
I mean the analogy isn't perfect... like I guess we're the ore (or whatever metal or mineral you want to be, tag yrself I'm feldspar), and ore can't decide to leave a mine (oh damn can we leave??)... also I guess the AI algorithms are the miners, and Zuckerberg et al are obvs the magnates. This makes me wonder who inhabits the towns we're contributing to, what is the finished product of our data, can we be minerals and miners at the same time?... oopsie there I go, I've been in the mines too much today.
Anyway do with this what you will. I'll be in the tunnel off to the left thinkin 'bout magma and cleavage planes.
February 4, 2021
OK OK OK so
If social media platforms are now populated by about 50% bots (that can rarely be distinguished from humans), and those bots are actively swaying not only consumer culture, but politics and policies... we're basically already living in an AI controlled dystopia? Yeah? Hey?
Like the roobuts aren't sentient (yet), but whoever controls them (we know who controls them) currently has most of the globe in their pocket. Humans are super prone to mob mentalities and many follow influential leaders without question, but gah what if those mobs (their "allies" who "agree" with them) aren't even human? Just programmed hoards built to sway and dictate our choices?
My older daughter has been struggling a lot this past year, repeatedly saying nothing feels "real". At first I thought it was the bizarre nature of the pandemic, plus her dad's illness that were feeding these feelings (and they definitely are a big part of it, it sucks), but now it's obvious that the media both my kids have been consuming is NOT supporting a balanced perception of reality. Like not only from an "exaggerated fantasies" point of view, but from a "less than half of online interactions are real people" point of view. New to a platform? The bots swarm to greet you, hooking you, then ditch. Wanna reach out assuming they're real? They're not. Get a nice comment on your post from a new follower you don't know? Not real. Striving to become just like that cool influencer who lives a super dreamy life? Their following isn't real, and neither is their life. Our kids are trying to build their identities in a shadow world of synthetic personalities.
And because their world is SO encased in digital media, it makes perfect sense that their perception of reality would become jumbled and confusing. Like, shit! It actually makes me want to throw their phones in the trash, but at this point society would hiss at me for doing so? Is it now considered child abuse to take away their phones, isolating them further during a pandemic?
Very open to tips and tricks for managing and mitigating this and the inevitable mental health crisis it'll bring (we're already deep in it on our end).
AND MARK MY FRICKIN WORDS: There's an online collapse/reckoning coming where the bubble will burst and the real world will pay heavily for it. It's gonna be fuuuuucked up.
Thus concludes my quarterly "social media is bad bad very bad" post, on social media.
November 4, 2024
Guilt and shame are demotivators. They are tools that can be used effectively to stop bad behaviour but they are not effective for encouraging better behaviour. If used to prompt better behaviour, they do the opposite. They alienate and create distance. They demotivate. Motivation for betterment requires openness and support. That's how it works. If you don't believe me, ask anyone who grew up with a parent who utilized guilt trips as a primary tool, then ask that person how therapy is going.
Apply this to the past two decades of social media/social justice and you might start to see how we got here. How quickly we formed silos, which rewarded binary thought, which enabled "us vs them", which exploded into the clumsy wielding of guilt and shame as a "weapon for good". It didn't work. We now see armies of bots programmed to troll via shame and guilt, because demotivation is always the outcome, and this outcome works for anyone wishing to sow chaos and division.
A political spectrum can only maintain nuance and grey shades if we can speak to each other without defaulting to guilt and shame. Find a way to desilo and deprogram binary thought, whatever that looks like for you. (Hint: get offline)
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