Elon Musk bought Twitter.

[yermum]

Social media can go fuck itself.

It’s a shame because for a while twitter was genuinely useful for my work in academia.

We are in the age of algorithmic control. The world is being led backwards and forwards by big tech and its desire for profit.

Don’t engage.

[JM2K6]

I left Twitter a long time ago but opened a Bluesky account a few days ago to see what it was like. I can confirm that left leaning liberal types can be every bit as cunty as the other lot, just with a fully functioning superiority complex.

Deleted that one as well

Try Mastodon

I find it relaxing.

Just don't bother with social media, I reckon. I'd take cunty left-liberal types over the racists and actual Nazis any day of the week, but all these things are designed to provoke in some way or another and our brains aren't good at dealing with all that information, that method of communicating with a bonkers number of people, and the very nature of infinite discourse.

I will take my own advice at some point I'm sure.

[inactionman]

I stick to forums, as you start to build at least some sort of understanding of - if not necessarily a rapport with - the other posters and can normalise the more extreme. It of course helps that most have a common interest.

The more broadcast forms of social media are a mess. Aside from algorithms just presenting me with the same tired shit, I've no idea what everyone's agenda is - aside from self-aggrandisement - and the loudest on social media definitely have agendas. I'd rather converse with people, even if I don't agree with them, than shout over them.

I always hoped the whole Web 2.0 (woah, that's going back a few years) was going to be about connecting people, but it's ended up more about segmenting people and serving them adverts - the connection between people is totally missing.

[JM2K6]

Exactly. Forums allow you to build up a picture of what everyone is like, a set of social norms develops, and they're usually a genuine community no matter how dysfunctional. That's why I've never lumped forums in with social media, because they're so self contained.

Besides, to paraphrase a twitter wag, it is a crime that we are exposed to the thoughts of teenagers on social media without knowing it.

[robmatic]

Twitter is a mess but I feel like I unfortunately need it to keep up with current affairs in Turkey where the mainstream media is not reliable in any shape or form.

I limit my exposure to 30 minutes per day. That is usually enough for news.

[robmatic]

Besides, to paraphrase a twitter wag, it is a crime that we are exposed to the thoughts of teenagers on social media without knowing it.

Teenagers and the autistic.

[JM2K6]

Besides, to paraphrase a twitter wag, it is a crime that we are exposed to the thoughts of teenagers on social media without knowing it.

Teenagers and the autistic.

Social media makes everyone appear on the spectrum I reckon. It's literally designed to make everyone fixate on shit in the weirdest ways

[Uncle fester]

Besides, to paraphrase a twitter wag, it is a crime that we are exposed to the thoughts of teenagers on social media without knowing it.

Teenagers and the autistic.

Mind how you throw terms like that about please.

Also bots, you can't talk about xhitter without talking about the bots.
Apologies in advance for any offense caused to bots.

[PornDog]

Besides, to paraphrase a twitter wag, it is a crime that we are exposed to the thoughts of teenagers on social media without knowing it.

Teenagers and the autistic.

Mind how you throw terms like that about please.

Also bots, you can't talk about xhitter without talking about the bots.
Apologies in advance for any offense caused to bots.

[Margin__Walker]

Besides, to paraphrase a twitter wag, it is a crime that we are exposed to the thoughts of teenagers on social media without knowing it.

Teenagers and the autistic.

Mind how you throw terms like that about please.

Also bots, you can't talk about xhitter without talking about the bots.
Apologies in advance for any offense caused to bots.

Yep, bots on Twitter are the biggest issue for me now. Heavily effects functionality and the user experience before you even get to any discussion of Musk. Any post by even accounts with a mid level profile are flooded with blue tick bot nonsense, making any discourse pretty much impossible.

[Biffer]

Musk also confirmed in the last few days that tweets with external links are throttled, which then controls the news people see, access to other opinions, etc.

[inactionman]

He's even indirectly messing up the Royal Society, although that's probably more the fault of those who elected him.

Oxford scientist resigns from Royal Society over Elon Musk’s continuing fellowship

Prof Dorothy Bishop said fellowship was ‘a contradiction of all the values’ of UK’s national academy of sciences

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... fellowship

[inactionman]

Might as well post this here - Oz have barred kids (anyone under 16) from social media.

Not entirely sure how it will be regulated, but an interesting step.

[Guy Smiley]

Might as well post this here - Oz have barred kids (anyone under 16) from social media.

Not entirely sure how it will be regulated, but an interesting step.

I'm not following as closely on this as I have with other political matters in Oz as there's just so much bad policy being enacted everywhere that it gets a bit overwhelming... but this is bad policy. There's no practical way it can be enforced that looks easy or economical, and the government have completely bypassed parental autonomy. It's populist wankery.That said, there is a glaring need for some sort of limit to the various social media platforms and there have been a number of docos produced in Oz detailing the issues around this.

[Dinsdale Piranha]

Might as well post this here - Oz have barred kids (anyone under 16) from social media.

Not entirely sure how it will be regulated, but an interesting step.

https://www.betootaadvocate.com/breakin ... s-pornhub/

[Guy Smiley]

[sockwithaticket]

While excessive social media consumption is certainly bad for children/teens (didn't some social media execs testify before congress that they won't let their own kids use it?), it's not much better for adults as we see by the rampant spreading of misinformation on platforms. Even in the form of incredibly obvious AI generated pictures. What we need is severe regulation of social media and big tech companies as a whole, not just to try and shield a small proportion of the population from them.

Can't see how they're going to enforce this ban, but good luck to them.

[PornDog]

While excessive social media consumption is certainly bad for children/teens (didn't some social media execs testify before congress that they won't let their own kids use it?), it's not much better for adults as we see by the rampant spreading of misinformation on platforms. Even in the form of incredibly obvious AI generated pictures. What we need is severe regulation of social media and big tech companies as a whole, not just to try and shield a small proportion of the population from them.

Can't see how they're going to enforce this ban, but good luck to them.

To add to that, advertising on social media should be held to the same standards as advertising on TV and Radio - so fucking many scam advertisements, often with deepfaked celebrities, on Facebook and YouTube. And that's not even counting the 'legitimate' advertisers that are just making wild claims about their products and services.

[Sandstorm]

While excessive social media consumption is certainly bad for children/teens (didn't some social media execs testify before congress that they won't let their own kids use it?), it's not much better for adults as we see by the rampant spreading of misinformation on platforms. Even in the form of incredibly obvious AI generated pictures. What we need is severe regulation of social media and big tech companies as a whole, not just to try and shield a small proportion of the population from them.

Can't see how they're going to enforce this ban, but good luck to them.

To add to that, advertising on social media should be held to the same standards as advertising on TV and Radio - so fucking many scam advertisements, often with deepfaked celebrities, on Facebook and YouTube. And that's not even counting the 'legitimate' advertisers that are just making wild claims about their products and services.

Wait, are you saying that adverts like this are fake???

"Powerful German technology eliminates the need for running water and electricity, boosting water pressure of this pressure washer up to 30 times!!"

[Hal Jordan]

Utility CEOs hate this!

[PornDog]

The display ads at the end of shitty website news articles are gas as well. I live in a pretty small rural town and see ads like "Millionaire's in <2horsetown> don't want you to know this" with a nice picture of some slick dude and his hot chick posing next to his Ferrari.

[Biffer]

Twelve kids and he spent Thanksgiving with Donald Trump.

[Hellraiser]

Twelve kids and he spent Thanksgiving with Donald Trump.

That's because his kids hate him.

[Biffer]

Twelve kids and he spent Thanksgiving with Donald Trump.

That's because his kids hate him.

Exactly