They have been lying to you about social media
amineaouragh.substack.comOn one hand, yes. I made twitter work for me by blocking politics and every other topic I hate, and then actively remembering to block people that discuss upsetting topics rather than indulging my initial impulse which is to wade in, and it works. Now and then I just have to delete a post I'm about to make when I realize I got baited again.
On the other hand, these systems are literally built and engineered by experts to addict and upset you (to drive "engagement"). So, to me, this article is equivalent to saying that gambling at a rigged casino is not so bad if you have a set budget of play money and are being careful not to get sucked in. The bottom line is that everyone who isn't you is getting screwed, and either you are successfully principled and vigilant enough to resist in which case your enjoyment is at the expense of everyone else getting screwed, or you let your guard down for a moment and have your mood ruined. In addition, also like a casino, these services are built to be addictive, and they hoover up your personal data to sell.
So, knowing all that, I disagree with the premise.
what i tried to say in my post is that you can use social media to your own advantage as so many other people do - me included - and you can surround yourself with the right people and ignore the negative people who might make you feel bad and annoy you and this can have an impact on your self-confidence on social media. That's all.
I get that completely, but in a holistic sense it's bigger than that and I feel what I wrote was true as well. I don't think we can afford to enjoy the minor positives created by predominantly bad things whilst ignoring the negative externalities for much longer, as a race.
Just because Chuck Norris can walk naked through a war zone and can come out alive doesn't mean doing so is safe.
It is not about the tool. It is what it does to you to use it. All the hand wringing about Things Going Down the Toilet always seem to turn a blind eye to social media algorithmic influence aligning temporally with the beginning of the swirl.
can i ask you two questions?
- do you use Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tiktok, etc...
- if you do, why do you use them? to consume or to produce?