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Do you have any ideas on how else we could fix these problems? Maybe the problem lies in a lack of education on how to navigate these platforms responsibly?

Baeocystin 8y ago
Without commenting further on this specific issue (and not pointing fingers, either. I understand the drive to make things better comes from a good place) But. Take heed from someone who lived in communist China in the 70s/80s- all mechanisms of social control outlive their creators. And censorship is a very, very powerful tool. So be very, very careful in invoking that technique as a good idea. Or, put another way, if there's a wasp buzzing in the room, plugging one's ears to its sound doesn't make it go away. You just no longer know when you're about to get stung. As for how to navigate these platforms responsibly- people have to care about consequences, and social media of the modern form is still too new for society to have come to grips with it. I think it will happen with time, as a mix of cultural and legal adaptations. As to what form that will ultimately take, well... Good question, that.
werbel 8y ago
Each phone ping, like, comment, reply, follow is a dopamine shot. You know what else gives people dopamine shot? The next piece of chocolate cake, the cigarette that's always overdue, having the drink after long day of work, finally being able to hit the bong and so on. "Social media" is as much of an addiction on a biological level as drugs. We know that prohibition doesn't work. We should start with helping people find ways to feed their (dopamine) reward system with more meaningful stuff. Help accomplish them small and bigger things, promote real human interaction.
CookieMon 8y ago
I'd like to see what happens if psychologists design a social media platform around encouraging positive healthy interactions. I can think of many improvements: * Boosting instead of retweeting can avoid viral outrage, explanation - https://www.codesections.com/blog/mastodon-elevator-pitch/ https://www.codesections.com/blog/mastodon-elevator-pitch/ * Reduce the incentives & rewards for signalling and curating an online identity, e.g. avoid Like buttons and Share'd content. Snapchat shows it's possible for Like-less social media without curated identity to still be popular, despite lacking Like-button dopamine hits, and the vacuum left by viral content and image grooming might¹ be replaced with socializing with your friends and ability to be yourself (¹ see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11828280 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11828280) * Should "goes on your permanent record" always be the platform's default behavior for social interactions? But I'm just a mere coder watching social media make my social circles ill, I wonder what systems real psychologists could come up with and test.
hycaria 8y ago
There's nothing to fix imo, you learn how to deal with stuff when dealing with stuff, I see no good in preventing it.

Baeocystin 8y ago

Without commenting further on this specific issue (and not pointing fingers, either. I understand the drive to make things better comes from a good place) But. Take heed from someone who lived in communist China in the 70s/80s- all mechanisms of social control outlive their creators. And censorship is a very, very powerful tool. So be very, very careful in invoking that technique as a good idea. Or, put another way, if there's a wasp buzzing in the room, plugging one's ears to its sound doesn't make it go away. You just no longer know when you're about to get stung. As for how to navigate these platforms responsibly- people have to care about consequences, and social media of the modern form is still too new for society to have come to grips with it. I think it will happen with time, as a mix of cultural and legal adaptations. As to what form that will ultimately take, well... Good question, that.

werbel 8y ago

Each phone ping, like, comment, reply, follow is a dopamine shot. You know what else gives people dopamine shot? The next piece of chocolate cake, the cigarette that's always overdue, having the drink after long day of work, finally being able to hit the bong and so on. "Social media" is as much of an addiction on a biological level as drugs. We know that prohibition doesn't work. We should start with helping people find ways to feed their (dopamine) reward system with more meaningful stuff. Help accomplish them small and bigger things, promote real human interaction.

CookieMon 8y ago

I'd like to see what happens if psychologists design a social media platform around encouraging positive healthy interactions. I can think of many improvements: * Boosting instead of retweeting can avoid viral outrage, explanation - https://www.codesections.com/blog/mastodon-elevator-pitch/ https://www.codesections.com/blog/mastodon-elevator-pitch/ * Reduce the incentives & rewards for signalling and curating an online identity, e.g. avoid Like buttons and Share'd content. Snapchat shows it's possible for Like-less social media without curated identity to still be popular, despite lacking Like-button dopamine hits, and the vacuum left by viral content and image grooming might¹ be replaced with socializing with your friends and ability to be yourself (¹ see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11828280 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11828280) * Should "goes on your permanent record" always be the platform's default behavior for social interactions? But I'm just a mere coder watching social media make my social circles ill, I wonder what systems real psychologists could come up with and test.

hycaria 8y ago

There's nothing to fix imo, you learn how to deal with stuff when dealing with stuff, I see no good in preventing it.