Social media and it's increasing societal damage, answers?

Kermit.de.frog

Whether it's elections, troll farms, lunatic conspiracy theories, misinformation, misdirection, fake news... there is no denying the impact social media is having on societies around the world.

At the beginning most of us will have thought it was great, all this information we can share, wonderful and enlightening.

Now, I'm of the view it's becoming dangerous and degrading to society as a whole for all sorts of reasons.

I don't know what the solution is short of bringing an end to social media completely but if things continue as they are going we face serious challenges.

Undeniably social media has some benefits but I don't think what social media has to offer is worth the increasingly chaotic situations we see in all sorts of areas like some I listed above.

Maybe it's a case that certain types of social media need to be phased out? Or heavily restricted?

I don't know what the answer is but I know we can't continue on like we are going giving every lunatic a platform to indoctrinate so many others in to what mentalness they are pushing or promoting unrest/violence. The decline in basic social discourse is also notable through social media as well which is a whole other angle.

It needs to change, but how?

Corholio

It's a very valid question and I think in the future there will be changes to how it all works, but unfortunately you are going to get the 'free speech' gang in to kill any discussion about it and it handily being able to cover any view possible a human could have.

Madeleine Birchfield

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Whether it's elections, troll farms, lunatic conspiracy theories, misinformation, misdirection, fake news... there is no denying the impact social media is having on societies around the world.

At the beginning most of us will have thought it was great, all this information we can share, wonderful and enlightening.

Now, I'm of the view it's becoming dangerous and degrading to society as a whole for all sorts of reasons.

I don't know what the solution is short of bringing an end to social media completely but if things continue as they are going we face serious challenges.

Undeniably social media has some benefits but I don't think what social media has to offer is worth the increasingly chaotic situations we see in all sorts of areas like some I listed above.

Maybe it's a case that certain types of social media need to be phased out? Or heavily restricted?

I don't know what the answer is but I know we can't continue on like we are going giving every lunatic a platform to indoctrinate so many others in to what mentalness they are pushing or promoting unrest/violence. The decline in basic social discourse is also notable through social media as well which is a whole other angle.

It needs to change, but how?

Getting rid of likes, retweets, hashtags, and reposts on Twitter and Facebook would go a long way to solving a lot of the problems. Makes the platforms less of a popularity contest.

CrankyHaus

Is the situation honestly any worse than when newspapers, cable TV and network news set the agenda?

I think the benefits outweigh the costs.

For instance In 2003 the USA was set on the path to an invasion of Iraq with the tacit support of most media; TV, radio, newspapers, even "respectable" organisations like the New York Times.
The invasion was based on transparent lies, driven by rampant war profiteering within the Bush administration and destabilised the Middle East right up to the present day and for the foreseeable future.
It's difficult to imagine that happening now because alternate views can be expressed across the internet, particularly social media, to challenge the official position.

There are similar examples here in Ireland. Like when Denis O'Brien attempted to silence criticism of the dodgy Siteserv deal within the Dáil through litigation and our media refused to report it for fear of being sued while Irish people on social media shared the story en masse until it could no longer be covered up.

Our last bust in 2008 was so severe because a reckless property and banking bubble had been cheered on enthusiastically by the media, parts of which had vested financial interests due to their dependence on property supplements.

On balance I think the internet and social media do more good than bad. It's just the bad gets reported on more, in part by an old media establishment jealous of losing its status and in part by the rich and powerful pining for the days when they could get inconvenient stories spiked with a phonecall and have convenient ones pushed to further their interests.

Kermit.de.frog

Like I said there are some positives, I just think at this point they are outweighed by the issues.

Just to clarify it's specifically social media and not the entire internet I'm referring to.

Gatling

Did anyone see the incident in Galway where gardai were arresting two lads for fighting yet all of these unmentionable youths started to get involved to try stop them one in particular on a social media video ranting about the feds and racist police brutality ,got shared thousands of times and anyone who tried to question the narrative was made out to be a far right racist

Ronaldinho

It doesn't help that there's so many dimwits that take everything they see on the Internet/Whatsapp etc. as Fact.

It wouldn't be such a destructive influence if that weren't the case.

Gradius

Personal Internet has had its day, in my opinion.

"Personal" as in the free expression of every fool on earth to say and show whatever they want.

The upsides are trite, the downsides catastrophic. From the "Arab spring" to the current chaos in the United States.

It amounts, essentially, to people behaving like screaming children to break things apart while offering zero in way of solutions. Tantrums empowered. The Internet has infantilised hundreds of millions of people and the only ones profiting are insidious "tech companies". Perhaps they should be renamed "wreck companies".

I can't see it continuing much longer like this.

tdf7187

Gradius wrote: »

Personal Internet has had its day, in my opinion.

"Personal" as in the free expression of every fool on earth to say and show whatever they want.

The upsides are trite, the downsides catastrophic. From the "Arab spring" to the current chaos in the United States.

It amounts, essentially, to people behaving like screaming children to break things apart while offering zero in way of solutions. Tantrums empowered. The Internet has infantilised hundreds of millions of people and the only ones profiting are insidious "tech companies". Perhaps they should be renamed "wreck companies".

I can't see it continuing much longer like this.

You seem to be advocating some sort of authoritarian crackdown. If so, the cure you advocate is worse than the disease.

Silentcorner

tdf7187 wrote: »

You seem to be advocating some sort of authoritarian crackdown. If so, the cure you advocate is worse than the disease.

What?

How did you get that from what the poster said...he said social media....not mainstream/state media.

It's a lost cause..

We thought we'd have access to unlimited information at our fingertips..

All its done is given voice to the stupid..

Silentcorner

Gradius wrote: »

Personal Internet has had its day, in my opinion.

"Personal" as in the free expression of every fool on earth to say and show whatever they want.

The upsides are trite, the downsides catastrophic. From the "Arab spring" to the current chaos in the United States.

It amounts, essentially, to people behaving like screaming children to break things apart while offering zero in way of solutions. Tantrums empowered. The Internet has infantilised hundreds of millions of people and the only ones profiting are insidious "tech companies". Perhaps they should be renamed "wreck companies".

I can't see it continuing much longer like this.

I'm genuinely stunned at the amount of emotional outbursts on my own social media page...big long emotive posts about an incident in the US!!!

Accusations of dictatorships and fascism....and nothing about Hong Kong.

It must be exhausting being that wound up over a situation you have no control over.

I would imagine there would need to be National laws applied to enforce the moderation of platforms. The moderation being relegated to bots due to the workload. There would need to be a very balanced and non-biased view in regards to the moderation though, which I genuinely think is beyond modern society.

It's not just the US anymore. Modern western society is extremely agenda driven. So.. I don't really have any hope for balanced/fair moderation of social media. We'll see more censorship similar to what Youtube/Twitch/Facebook have been doing to push their own agendas... but the voices that agree with the corporate entity will remain unchecked, or promoted into the views of others.

coinop

https://twitter.com/_shinhead/status/1267950232807104512

Silentcorner

coinop wrote: »

https://twitter.com/_shinhead/status/1267950232807104512

Another "empowered" one no doubt.

Ulysses Gaze

coinop wrote: »

https://twitter.com/_shinhead/status/1267950232807104512

That individual is probably profoundly unhappy in their own life if they get that het up about something like this.

Gradius

tdf7187 wrote: »

You seem to be advocating some sort of authoritarian crackdown. If so, the cure you advocate is worse than the disease.

No.

People will survive without the millions of worthless ideas thrown at them every second of the day by nobodies.

Would you miss knowing what Mary has for dinner last Wednesday? Do you really care about that picture of someone's mugging face in front of a field? Can you live without the philosophy of some 15 year old influencer? Could you live without the hours-per-second uploads of grotesque imagery and violence that has no point?

And that's the innocent stuff.

Then there's the wanton gluttony of others profiting off your personal privacy, shadowy groups out to purposely steer public perception towards their own gains, corporations manipulating people at wholesale level. Etc!

I can live without all of that. It would be downright pleasant.

Turn the Internet into a sophisticated online library of information minus the sewage. Everyone wins.

Thelonious Monk

It's very easy to ignore it and keep your exposure to the news a minimum, leave it to the kids

Ulysses Gaze

Gradius wrote: »

No.

People will survive without the millions of worthless ideas thrown at them every second of the day by nobodies.

Would you miss knowing what Mary has for dinner last Wednesday? Do you really care about that picture of someone's mugging face in front of a field? Can you live without the philosophy of some 15 year old influencer? Could you live without the hours-per-second uploads of grotesque imagery and violence that has no point?

And that's the innocent stuff.

Then there's the wanton gluttony of others profiting off your personal privacy, shadowy groups out to purposely steer public perception towards their own gains, corporations manipulating people at wholesale level. Etc!

I can live without all of that. It would be downright pleasant.

Turn the Internet into a sophisticated online library of information minus the sewage. Everyone wins.

And Porn. Gotta have the porn.

Ulysses Gaze

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

And Porn. Gotta have the porn.

Probably heading into a golden age as a consequence of social media..

Kermit.de.frog

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

It's very easy to ignore it and keep your exposure to the news a minimum, leave it to the kids

The argument to that would be that the kids are exposed to it and they grow up with it.

It does not strike me as a line that stops with adulthood!

Social media is an addiction in my opinion.

Kermit.de.frog

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Social media is an addiction in my opinion.

Much worse than that..leads to the performative personality.. where they don't even know who they are anymore.. everything is projection of an image for the audience..

Really sad to see.. Surely only going to get worse too..

coinop

Gatling wrote: »

Did anyone see the incident in Galway where gardai were arresting two lads for fighting yet all of these unmentionable youths started to get involved to try stop them one in particular on a social media video ranting about the feds and racist police brutality ,got shared thousands of times and anyone who tried to question the narrative was made out to be a far right racist

I believe this is the video you're referring to. It's hard to find as the open borders crowd are working hard to have it scrubbed from the internet but a few brave souls have made copies. Once something is on the internet, it's there forever.

suicide_circus

Pandora's Box

We were warned!

Kermit.de.frog

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

The argument to that would be that the kids are exposed to it and they grow up with it.

It does not strike me as a line that stops with adulthood!

Social media is an addiction in my opinion.

I ban the use of phones in my university classes, and I can see the students having issues with not having access to social media for the first few weeks of the semester. They're constantly connected. They'll be in the canteen watching their phones while eating and not talking to the people nearby, or walking down the road while chatting online with social media apps. It definitely affects how people view themselves and the world around them... especially the girls/women with their views on beauty. It's bizarre.. and unhealthy.

Ulysses Gaze

coinop wrote: »

I believe this is the video you're referring to. It's hard to find as the open borders crowd are working hard to have it scrubbed from the internet but a few brave souls have made copies. Once something is on the internet, it's there forever.

Gotta love that video title....:rolleyes:

****ing idiots.

coinop

coinop wrote: »

Once something is on the internet, it's there forever.

Actually, no, it's not. It's just there for a long time, and can disappear from "the internet" over time, depending on the servers allocated, and who is managing them.

Gradius

Deleted User wrote: »

I ban the use of phones in my university classes, and I can see the students having issues with not having access to social media for the first few weeks of the semester. They're constantly connected. They'll be in the canteen watching their phones while eating and not talking to the people nearby, or walking down the road while chatting online with social media apps. It definitely affects how people view themselves and the world around them... especially the girls/women with their views on beauty. It's bizarre.. and unhealthy.

It's all in the name of profiteering for tech companies.

In one of the riots in the states all Internet was shut down for a time. A flick of a switch is all it takes and it must have these companies sweating bullets.

As a lazy prediction, I could see things getting really out of hand over there, followed by an utter crackdown on all personal Internet usage (social media). The lies and corruption coming out of the Internet is in for it.

But we'll see

joe40

coinop wrote: »

I believe this is the video you're referring to. It's hard to find as the open borders crowd are working hard to have it scrubbed from the internet but a few brave souls have made copies. Once something is on the internet, it's there forever.

Looks mild enough to me and it was a very mixed group of teenagers which is good. Plenty of white Irish kids there as well.
I thought the guards handled it well.
I do think they're brats but there has always been mouthy teens.

double jobbing

Deleted mine off the phone (not my account, but the app. Account stays)

5 days and don't miss it in the slightest. Got rid because I realised I no longer find people on my friend list sharing COVID19 Bill Gates theories amusing.

I no longer find the extreme leftists I follow for a laugh amusing.

I no longer find Gemma O'Doherty amusing.

Maybe one time I did, but I started to realise this level of stupidity was actually depressing me.

Only reason I might have to add it back is for work. I'm working but it's precarious, so it pays to keep your finger on the button with offers on groups etc.

Apart from that, I miss memes, but the rest can **** off. Waste of time.

Kermit.de.frog

Deleted User wrote: »

I ban the use of phones in my university classes, and I can see the students having issues with not having access to social media for the first few weeks of the semester. They're constantly connected. They'll be in the canteen watching their phones while eating and not talking to the people nearby, or walking down the road while chatting online with social media apps. It definitely affects how people view themselves and the world around them... especially the girls/women with their views on beauty. It's bizarre.. and unhealthy.

It effects society on a lot of levels. Just a small example, I know college students who literally can not physically write a sentence properly and struggle to spell in a way that's almost incomprehensible. I guess spell checkers aren't available in the real world and text speak ain't so useful. That's not only social media obviously but it's still bizarre.

ArchXStanton

It's changed the way we interact, I'd bet it has a lot to do with the increase in anxiety and depression too.

joe40

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I ban the use of phones in my university classes, and I can see the students having issues with not having access to social media for the first few weeks of the semester. They're constantly connected. They'll be in the canteen watching their phones while eating and not talking to the people nearby, or walking down the road while chatting online with social media apps. It definitely affects how people view themselves and the world around them... especially the girls/women with their views on beauty. It's bizarre.. and unhealthy.

Yeah I agree it is having a negative influence. However, is board's not social media?
We're on social media complaining about social media.
There are posters here with 1000s of post that must mean a awful lot of time on this site alone.

Kermit.de.frog

joe40 wrote: »

Yeah I agree it is having a negative influence. However, is board's not social media?
We're on social media complaining about social media.
There are posters here with 1000s of post that must mean a awful lot of time on this site alone.

Boards is a properly moderated and controlled space.

I'm not sure whether it meets the criteria of social media.

Perhaps a mod can clarify?

James Brown

Like any information medium judge what you see and hear based on the source. At the the end of the day if you are listening to randos with no supporting or corroborated facts that's on you. Just because it's on the radio, internet of whatever doesn't make it true. Outside of that social media is a great way to stay in touch.

James Brown

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Boards is a properly moderated and controlled space.

I'm not sure whether it meets the criteria of social media.

Perhaps a mod can clarify?

Facebook and Twitter are moderated.

Kermit.de.frog

Bowie wrote: »

Facebook and Twitter are moderated.

No where near as controlled an environment though.

Also most people use their real names and identities on both.

Not the case on Boreds.

Eric Cartman

retweet / Instagram like culture is a cancer of our time. The damaging image trends that female celebrities engage in, late teens women and women in their 20s emulate are becoming catastrophic for the generation below them. You now have girls barely 13-14 looking into getting lip fillers because all of the older girls have them on Instagram , emulating celebrities who's only talents are taking their clothes off for money.

Then you have drag queen children, the fad of changing genders every week, indoctrination into extremist politics on both sides of the spectrum, the glorification of hard drugs and the 'drug dealer lifestyle' , its never been more present, more repetitive and more pervasive in childrens lives.

In the old days it was pretty easy to keep kids away from 18s rated films glorifying drug use, prostitution etc... Now some of their favourite 'influencers' are prostitutes, drug dealers etc...

Its a race to the bottom.

Bowie

Bowie wrote: »

Like any information medium judge what you see and hear based on the source. At the the end of the day if you are listening to randos with no supporting or corroborated facts that's on you. Just because it's on the radio, internet of whatever doesn't make it true. Outside of that social media is a great way to stay in touch.

That was the older argument with regards the internet/social media/mainstream media... and look whats happened.

People are being spoon fed information, and they have no interest in fact checking. It's no longer just on them, because with social media their reach is much further than a single person alone... and it places too much power/influence within the reach of internet companies who can change the actual use of language. Look at the way the English language has changed over the last twenty years... it's nuts, the "quality" or types of words which have been accepted.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Look at the way the English language has changed over the last twenty years... it's nuts, the "quality" or types of words which have been accepted.

This is a big part of it too.. the language has been damaged.. language that is the basis of society really.. it's no wonder reality is coming undone..

(I'm about to get all biblical now..)
In the beginning was the word..

sheepsh4gger

The solution is to remove all forms of censorship. If you go to a place that isn't moderated there's lots of repulsive stuff there but also there isn't a Sizanne Wojcicki or Mark Zuckerberg selectively censoring what they don't like and pushing agendas that serve them.
I don't get how the modern 'public square' is a corporate censored platform.

Eric Cartman

Deleted User wrote: »

That was the older argument with regards the internet/social media/mainstream media... and look whats happened.

People are being spoon fed information, and they have no interest in fact checking. It's no longer just on them, because with social media their reach is much further than a single person alone... and it places too much power/influence within the reach of internet companies who can change the actual use of language. Look at the way the English language has changed over the last twenty years... it's nuts, the "quality" or types of words which have been accepted.

its pub-man / barstool news , the difference is now its worldwide, its hitting vulnerable demographics like teens that it never impacted before and a few friends sharing something fake makes it easier to digest as the 'truth' in peoples minds. peer pressure and repetition have become the barometer for truth. Its a sad state of affairs and allowing websites funded by advertisers to be the arbiters of truth is a mistake our societies will pay for dearly.

Jurgen Klopp

coinop wrote: »

https://twitter.com/_shinhead/status/1267950232807104512

Seems a thinly veiled if you're not actively and loudly with us you are against us statement there

sheepsh4gger

sheepsh4gger wrote: »

The solution is to remove all forms of censorship. If you go to a place that isn't moderated there's lots of repulsive stuff there but also there isn't a Sizanne Wojcicki or Mark Zuckerberg selectively censoring what they don't like and pushing agendas that serve them.
I don't get how the modern 'public square' is a corporate censored platform.

But shur what will that do to the signal to noise ratio?.. That's pretty much the situation now and there's just so much horsesh1t..

I think maybe if TV news wasn't allowed be opinion again, and had to commit to factual information, but it's probably too late for that even..

sheepsh4gger

sheepsh4gger wrote: »

The solution is to remove all forms of censorship. If you go to a place that isn't moderated there's lots of repulsive stuff there but also there isn't a Sizanne Wojcicki or Mark Zuckerberg selectively censoring what they don't like and pushing agendas that serve them.
I don't get how the modern 'public square' is a corporate censored platform.

Except that removing all forms of censorship means removing all moderation too. That's going to allow every piece of hate and bile to be promoted. Actively recruiting impressionable youth to join groups with dodgy agendas.

The problem is that with the advances in marketing and psychology, people are more susceptible to being conditioned.... and those tactics are available to all groups already.

As a previous poster suggested, I wouldn't be against the shutting down of most social media services. There are aspects of the great firewall of China which are appealing (I've lived under it for a decade, and there are positives in addition to the obvious negatives). But if the internet could be returned to a information reserve, that would be optimum in my eyes.

joe40

Jurgen Klopp wrote: »

Seems a thinly veiled if you're not actively and loudly with us you are against us statement there

That is silly but the tweet got two likes. No societal change coming from there.

maccored

social media isnt the problem - its humans. social media lets you witness humanity at both its best and its most delusional, paranoid, stupid ignorant worst. its peoples attitudes need changing

James Brown

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

No where near as controlled an environment though.

Also most people use their real names and identities on both.

Not the case on Boreds.

All Boards, FB and Twitter have is an email.
I'd say Boards has more to do with individuals idea of what goes, which can differ greatly sometimes Mod to Mod, whereas FB and Twitter would rely more heavily on corporate guidelines.

ILoveYourVibes

Very few people use social media these days.

ILoveYourVibes

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Very few people use social media these days.

Any research to back up such a bizarre claim?

maccored

maccored wrote: »

social media isnt the problem - its humans. social media lets you witness humanity at both its best and its most delusional, paranoid, stupid ignorant worst. its peoples attitudes need changing

All very well and good, but dealing with social media is a far cry easier than reforming peoples behavior.

Especially as the society we live in is encouraging the reduction of boundaries and behavioral norms. Most traditional taboos and customs designed to keep people within limited behavior have been removed, diminished or discredited.