There was a good section on this in Johann Hari's Book Stolen Focus. Basically, he argues that the business model of social media is not conducive to creating a good user experience. Because the incentives are backwards: the angrier we get, the more more money the platforms make. He feels that regulation is the only answer: that social media should become a public utility and be regulated as such, and that the payment models be changed (there would likely be user fees). Fat chance of that, I'd say.
But wouldn't it be great if the people who cared about quality public discourse (and news) just moved en masse to a Facebook or Twitter where the goal was actually to create a good user experience and revenue came from millions of (very low) monthly fees? No selling of data, no incentives to keep people on there longer than they want, no need to manipulate facts... ah, I can dream.
Good luck with your career thinking and decision-making. I'm going to sign up to pay for this today.
Thank you! I feel this. And I think proper regulation is still a long shot. We've seen what happens when we try. It's so hard to coordinate a move, as we recently saw. But these social media platforms can and do fall. So maybe someday?
In a way, it mirrors the state of our democracies. They have gotten shittier, more unequal, filled with bad actors and miscreants. And recently, they too are seeing attempts at a putsch of sorts from the very worst elements convinced they can bring 'order' to chaos while doing the opposite. We stay in those democracies for the same reason we stay on Twitter: in spite of the trolls, bad actors, Dunning-Krugers, or political operatives, there are valuable people, intelligent people, committed to offering the best to the public space. Other sites have begun to form, but until the very best in their fields move to them, they will never achieve the critical mass required for Twitter to become expendable.
Twitter is really the bane of my existence at the moment, but it's also my #1 procrastination tool while I try to finish my degree. Love it or hate it, it seems to be the best way to stay informed at the moment & it feels kind of good to counter ridiculous arguments (even if it only helps me articulate). I really wish it were more regulated. What's your take on amendments to bill C-11? I find it very hard to follow and no idea what to root for.
All the best with your time off. Keep up the good fight, Comrade!
I too have some thoughts. For a few years I liked to analyze social media... its modus operandi, and its products (us humans) ... with reference to Guy Debord and his society of the spectacle. Life on screens is mediated life. We submerge ourselves in representation; flickering insubstantial images. It is no wonder the thoughtful feel alienated in this faux milieux where: "Contemporary events themselves retreat into a remote and fabulous realm of unverifiable stories, uncheckable statistics, unlikely explanations and untenable reasoning." And yet, notwithstanding Debord, I read and value the insights of several credible commentators, (including yourself) every day on twitter .... with my grasp on reality intact (mostly).
After a few years of offering comments, often laced with sarcasm, and usually directed at nutters and their leaders on the right, I chose to reclaim most of my time after the last mid-terms and Musk's demonstration that oligarchs are essentially assholes and don't always come from Russia.
I still spend a bit of time on Twitter just to hear from those I enjoy. Passing through, it is difficult to choose not to take a slice out of some jackass but there are just too many! Mostly I miss swatting at Poilievre but even he's become too much of a parody.
So, I come here and read those who are a bit obnoxious, often funny, and always interesting, like you and Scrimshaw. Semafor also has plenty of interesting takes on a lot of stuff. All in all Twitter is now a third or fourth tier interest.
Twitter provides me wonderful friends and experiences, but also has been an increasingly toxic environment by both the bad behavior of users and also the shadow of Musk. While there's no effective alternative to this time, I'm looking forward to that and my very Substack account is an attempt to find independence and freedom from the blue bird.
I do manage to keep my time on Twiiter and Facebook limited. Two things possibly factor into this. 1. I have always been an introvert and would rather be left alone. The select few I do engage with know that I prefer talking. Not typing. I also don't bother describing much so both Twitter and Facebook, etc equally stay small. 2. I really am an incredibly sensitive person and that has never translated well online. People seem to engage where I'm more likely to block, unfriendly, on follow. I also read more than I share and if Social Media starts with drama, I leave.
I went for the ‘nothing’ choice about 1/2 year ago. I got attacked for not being ‘woke’ enough and supposedly I am judgemental...so I’ll be unwoke and as judgementally misinformed/disinformed/uninformed over here while looking out my window at real birds.
Because I couldn't stomach giving Elon one more penny of undeserving wealth, and because Twitter was a hell-scape, I cancelled my account after spending weeks blocking ads which made me feel a little better but not in the long haul. I always kinda liked that twitter was unprofitable - that was part of the charm - it was part of its social contract. I miss twitter and the immediacy of information and news. I miss the hot takes and and long threads but I also don't. I love sub stack and feel better about directly money directly to thoughtful voices. I don't know how I would feel about it if twitter was central to my career, but leaving twitter felt like quitting smoking. I don't regret it. I am glad I did it and I feel better for doing it but I still miss it occasionally. It was cool but it was also a slow death. I also don't know if we as humans are actually built to communicate on that scale. Twitter is not the folksy utopian global town square - that's a nonsense marketing idea. It is a capitalistic platform that algorithmically amplifies the worst of humanity but hooks people by filling the need for a lost sense of community and filling the void left by the bottoming out of journalism and reliable news sources. In reality - the fix is to seek out to satisfy that feeling in by participation in your local community, read the news paper, pay for a subscription to your local paper (if you have one). There are other ways and platforms to connect globally. Death to twitter.
There was a good section on this in Johann Hari's Book Stolen Focus. Basically, he argues that the business model of social media is not conducive to creating a good user experience. Because the incentives are backwards: the angrier we get, the more more money the platforms make. He feels that regulation is the only answer: that social media should become a public utility and be regulated as such, and that the payment models be changed (there would likely be user fees). Fat chance of that, I'd say.
But wouldn't it be great if the people who cared about quality public discourse (and news) just moved en masse to a Facebook or Twitter where the goal was actually to create a good user experience and revenue came from millions of (very low) monthly fees? No selling of data, no incentives to keep people on there longer than they want, no need to manipulate facts... ah, I can dream.
Good luck with your career thinking and decision-making. I'm going to sign up to pay for this today.
Thank you! I feel this. And I think proper regulation is still a long shot. We've seen what happens when we try. It's so hard to coordinate a move, as we recently saw. But these social media platforms can and do fall. So maybe someday?
In a way, it mirrors the state of our democracies. They have gotten shittier, more unequal, filled with bad actors and miscreants. And recently, they too are seeing attempts at a putsch of sorts from the very worst elements convinced they can bring 'order' to chaos while doing the opposite. We stay in those democracies for the same reason we stay on Twitter: in spite of the trolls, bad actors, Dunning-Krugers, or political operatives, there are valuable people, intelligent people, committed to offering the best to the public space. Other sites have begun to form, but until the very best in their fields move to them, they will never achieve the critical mass required for Twitter to become expendable.
You are one of the people I met on Twitter. You made me think the NDP ideology is not so bad. Hope you stay connected to us.
Thank you! I am certainly going to try.
Twitter is really the bane of my existence at the moment, but it's also my #1 procrastination tool while I try to finish my degree. Love it or hate it, it seems to be the best way to stay informed at the moment & it feels kind of good to counter ridiculous arguments (even if it only helps me articulate). I really wish it were more regulated. What's your take on amendments to bill C-11? I find it very hard to follow and no idea what to root for.
All the best with your time off. Keep up the good fight, Comrade!
Thank you, sir. I don't have the energy you have, but your words are my (clearer) thoughts.
I’m hoping one of the Twitter alternatives will catch on, and then not descend into the same Hell hole.
I too have some thoughts. For a few years I liked to analyze social media... its modus operandi, and its products (us humans) ... with reference to Guy Debord and his society of the spectacle. Life on screens is mediated life. We submerge ourselves in representation; flickering insubstantial images. It is no wonder the thoughtful feel alienated in this faux milieux where: "Contemporary events themselves retreat into a remote and fabulous realm of unverifiable stories, uncheckable statistics, unlikely explanations and untenable reasoning." And yet, notwithstanding Debord, I read and value the insights of several credible commentators, (including yourself) every day on twitter .... with my grasp on reality intact (mostly).
After a few years of offering comments, often laced with sarcasm, and usually directed at nutters and their leaders on the right, I chose to reclaim most of my time after the last mid-terms and Musk's demonstration that oligarchs are essentially assholes and don't always come from Russia.
I still spend a bit of time on Twitter just to hear from those I enjoy. Passing through, it is difficult to choose not to take a slice out of some jackass but there are just too many! Mostly I miss swatting at Poilievre but even he's become too much of a parody.
So, I come here and read those who are a bit obnoxious, often funny, and always interesting, like you and Scrimshaw. Semafor also has plenty of interesting takes on a lot of stuff. All in all Twitter is now a third or fourth tier interest.
Twitter provides me wonderful friends and experiences, but also has been an increasingly toxic environment by both the bad behavior of users and also the shadow of Musk. While there's no effective alternative to this time, I'm looking forward to that and my very Substack account is an attempt to find independence and freedom from the blue bird.
I do manage to keep my time on Twiiter and Facebook limited. Two things possibly factor into this. 1. I have always been an introvert and would rather be left alone. The select few I do engage with know that I prefer talking. Not typing. I also don't bother describing much so both Twitter and Facebook, etc equally stay small. 2. I really am an incredibly sensitive person and that has never translated well online. People seem to engage where I'm more likely to block, unfriendly, on follow. I also read more than I share and if Social Media starts with drama, I leave.
We lock Johann Hari, Jonathan Haidt, and Jaron Lanier in a room....
10/10 would watch that Netflix special.
I went for the ‘nothing’ choice about 1/2 year ago. I got attacked for not being ‘woke’ enough and supposedly I am judgemental...so I’ll be unwoke and as judgementally misinformed/disinformed/uninformed over here while looking out my window at real birds.
Looking out the window at real birds doesn't sound so bad.
Because I couldn't stomach giving Elon one more penny of undeserving wealth, and because Twitter was a hell-scape, I cancelled my account after spending weeks blocking ads which made me feel a little better but not in the long haul. I always kinda liked that twitter was unprofitable - that was part of the charm - it was part of its social contract. I miss twitter and the immediacy of information and news. I miss the hot takes and and long threads but I also don't. I love sub stack and feel better about directly money directly to thoughtful voices. I don't know how I would feel about it if twitter was central to my career, but leaving twitter felt like quitting smoking. I don't regret it. I am glad I did it and I feel better for doing it but I still miss it occasionally. It was cool but it was also a slow death. I also don't know if we as humans are actually built to communicate on that scale. Twitter is not the folksy utopian global town square - that's a nonsense marketing idea. It is a capitalistic platform that algorithmically amplifies the worst of humanity but hooks people by filling the need for a lost sense of community and filling the void left by the bottoming out of journalism and reliable news sources. In reality - the fix is to seek out to satisfy that feeling in by participation in your local community, read the news paper, pay for a subscription to your local paper (if you have one). There are other ways and platforms to connect globally. Death to twitter.
Seriously!