4 ms·

You know - my wife and I were talking about Facebook the other day and the role it plays in 'the way society acts' these days. We came to the conclusion that t

by deaps 8y ago

You know - my wife and I were talking about Facebook the other day and the role it plays in 'the way society acts' these days. We came to the conclusion that the vast majority of feeds are filled with posts from sites that other like-minded people also have in their feeds. This causes the comments on those posts on your feed to mostly be filled with people whose feelings align with your own. I think that's dangerous, maybe mainly because the general population doesn't realize this. Everyone, no matter how 'distorted' their views are - feels vindicated in those views. Every time I feel like removing my Facebook, I just take a few steps back and only use it to stay in touch with family and/or friends that I have moved away from - which soon morphs back into the constant checking for new posts and then reading those comments, which tend to align and solidify my own feelings. I think the world would be a better place without Facebook - and I also think the world would be worse off in some regards without it. In either event, if Facebook vanished tomorrow, I wouldn't complain.

justapassenger 8y ago
Bubbles are real, but not only on Facebook. People will watch TV stations that have content that aligns with their world view. They'll read news papers that do the same. Listen to people who say things they like. This isn't strictly Facebook issue.
- FB_goaway 8y ago
  news and news feeds align with and are pestilently allied with FB
traek 8y ago
> We came to the conclusion that the vast majority of feeds are filled with posts from sites that other like-minded people also have in their feeds. This causes the comments on those posts on your feed to mostly be filled with people whose feelings align with your own. This is pretty well-trodden territory, cf. 'filter bubbles'.
eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago
I think about this a lot; the inverse might be slightly true in terms of who we should be connecting to, or maybe it's about the frequency of new and diverse connections and how those introductions are done? Even before Facebook I think most people generally kept within their group of like-minded people. It has gotten worse now because we are very much divided physically by where we live, what jobs people hold, where kids go to school, etc. I used to believe in the original Facebook mission -- connecting the world. I've worked remotely my entire life so I've had the opportunity to work with people all over the world from different cultures and backgrounds. It's given me a great perspective on humanity that I think a lot of people could benefit from, especially the ones that are in small towns (like I was) and don't venture out much beyond their borders in their life. But the internet allowed those connections to take place for me, not Facebook. We don't need Facebook to do any of these things, we just need to embrace the power of the internet. Facebook brought together a lot of people from very different groups with very different opinions about the world and just slammed them together in an informal way, an awkward way. I have uncles that I find to be abhorrent and I had no interest in connecting to them before Facebook in any way, but Facebook thinks because we have genetic connection, that must mean we want to have a social connection, right? And they push those connections extremely hard. I hate being "one of those people" but I deactivated my FB account early this month and it will be deleted in early February. I've definitely felt better without it, even though I know I'm missing some things. But if anything, it's encouraged me to be more proactive in reaching out to the people I actually want to keep up-to-date with, either via text message or real life meetings. It has also pushed me to blog more, and I appreciate that it's on a site I control and own, not for Facebook to manipulate and de-prioritize.
FB_goaway 8y ago
FB is the most insidious echochamber. it reverberates so intensely, that any abberent waveslengths of thought are saturated and harmonically amplified to match the echo, and its a tuned echo chamber. All of the fixes, and improvements are simply retuning maneuvers to match the propaganda of the day, I wholeheartedly believe that cuckerborg will go down in history as one of the most despicable thought criminals of this existence.

by deaps 8y ago

justapassenger 8y ago

Bubbles are real, but not only on Facebook. People will watch TV stations that have content that aligns with their world view. They'll read news papers that do the same. Listen to people who say things they like. This isn't strictly Facebook issue.

FB_goaway 8y ago
news and news feeds align with and are pestilently allied with FB

traek 8y ago

> We came to the conclusion that the vast majority of feeds are filled with posts from sites that other like-minded people also have in their feeds. This causes the comments on those posts on your feed to mostly be filled with people whose feelings align with your own. This is pretty well-trodden territory, cf. 'filter bubbles'.

eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago

I think about this a lot; the inverse might be slightly true in terms of who we should be connecting to, or maybe it's about the frequency of new and diverse connections and how those introductions are done? Even before Facebook I think most people generally kept within their group of like-minded people. It has gotten worse now because we are very much divided physically by where we live, what jobs people hold, where kids go to school, etc. I used to believe in the original Facebook mission -- connecting the world. I've worked remotely my entire life so I've had the opportunity to work with people all over the world from different cultures and backgrounds. It's given me a great perspective on humanity that I think a lot of people could benefit from, especially the ones that are in small towns (like I was) and don't venture out much beyond their borders in their life. But the internet allowed those connections to take place for me, not Facebook. We don't need Facebook to do any of these things, we just need to embrace the power of the internet. Facebook brought together a lot of people from very different groups with very different opinions about the world and just slammed them together in an informal way, an awkward way. I have uncles that I find to be abhorrent and I had no interest in connecting to them before Facebook in any way, but Facebook thinks because we have genetic connection, that must mean we want to have a social connection, right? And they push those connections extremely hard. I hate being "one of those people" but I deactivated my FB account early this month and it will be deleted in early February. I've definitely felt better without it, even though I know I'm missing some things. But if anything, it's encouraged me to be more proactive in reaching out to the people I actually want to keep up-to-date with, either via text message or real life meetings. It has also pushed me to blog more, and I appreciate that it's on a site I control and own, not for Facebook to manipulate and de-prioritize.

FB_goaway 8y ago

FB is the most insidious echochamber. it reverberates so intensely, that any abberent waveslengths of thought are saturated and harmonically amplified to match the echo, and its a tuned echo chamber. All of the fixes, and improvements are simply retuning maneuvers to match the propaganda of the day, I wholeheartedly believe that cuckerborg will go down in history as one of the most despicable thought criminals of this existence.