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The Google Headlines on my new Android phone is basically a mechanism for seeding emotional contagion and topic sharing at work, home, etc. This should not be u
by A_COMPUTER 11y ago
The Google Headlines on my new Android phone is basically a mechanism for seeding emotional contagion and topic sharing at work, home, etc. This should not be underestimated. What happens when you push a particular site's article about a particular topic, at a particular time of day, to millions of phones? Who seriously is not worried about the susceptibility of this mechanism to manipulation?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- mercer 11y agoI'm worried, but only slightly more worried than I already am about the effects of mass media on societies. Articles like these often give me mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's good to point out these specific dangers. On the other hand, it strikes me as counter-productive to focus or spend energy on this 'hypothetical' situation when the current media landscape is already way too big and bad an influence on our democracy. It's a bit like discussing Obama's track record ad nauseam when it's quite likely that he himself has limited influence, and the problems are deeper and broader. It's a case of focusing on a symptom at the expense of fighting the root cause. (that said, I'm also conflicted because it could also be said that it's better to get going, fight a symptom, and see where the path leads, rather than sussing out the root cause and then feeling powerless to do anything about it)