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To play devil’s advocate here: if social media companies were to desert a particular country, (unlikely as it is)...would it harm society in any significant way

To play devil’s advocate here: if social media companies were to desert a particular country, (unlikely as it is)...would it harm society in any significant way? Facebook, in particular seems to be a cesspit...in fact I spoke to a colleague who is mentally fragile, and gets worked up by looking at extremist Facebook pages... Add the other issues caused by social media, and it might be a blessing in disguise if they shut down.

logicchains 8y ago
>To play devil’s advocate here: if social media companies were to desert a particular country, (unlikely as it is)...would it harm society in any significant way? Society is made up of people, and a significant number of these people use Facebook. I imagine they wouldn't be particularly happy if it was taken away from them. How do you feel when somebody suddenly decides to take away something you like because they believe they know better than you about what's good for you? >Facebook, in particular seems to be a cesspit... Your experiences of Facebook are not representative of everybody's. The people in my circle of friends use Facebook to post jokes and memes, and keep in touch with extended family. I can't see how you'd accidentally come across extremist content unless either you're looking for it or your friends post it, in which case shouldn't your friends be the one you take issue with for sharing it? >in fact I spoke to a colleague who is mentally fragile, and gets worked up by looking at extremist Facebook pages... Mental illness is a tragic thing, but taking away Facebook won't solve it. Mentally ill people are distressed by many kinds of social interaction; would you suggest banning them all? >Add the other issues caused by social media, and it might be a blessing in disguise if they shut down. What other issues exactly? Trump being elected? Not everybody considers than an issue, e.g. the people who voted for him, and it's certainly not settled science that he wouldn't have been elected without it. Obama also made heavy use of social media in his election campaign; maybe he wouldn't have been elected without it. Personally social media has improved my life immensely, making it possible to keep in touch with people I'd otherwise have lost contact with completely. I can't be the only one. But I imagine on a social network like Hackernews you won't get a representative sample of the broader population, as engineers are more introverted on average, and introverts may get less value out of large social networks, digital or otherwise.
- throwawaygx 8y ago
  Mental illness is a tragic thing, but taking away Facebook won't solve it. Mentally ill people are distressed by many kinds of social interaction; would you suggest banning them all? The person in question doesn't have many friends, and spends hours going down rabbit holes on FB and YouTube. He expresses some extreme views for someone at the stage of life he's in, that mirror the opinions he sees on Facebook, and he repeatedly makes borderline violent threats. He lacks the nous to understand the difference between trolling and genuine comment. He isn't distressed by Facebook as much as he is emboldened by what he sees as a like-minded community. If Facebook didn't exist, he wouldn't seek such information out, since he isn't a particularly active consumer of information. It seems to encourage craziness, as someone else here pointed out, by allowing people who would otherwise be isolated from each other to congregate and reinforce extreme views. What other issues exactly? Trump being elected? Not everybody considers than an issue, e.g. the people who voted for him, and it's certainly not settled science that he wouldn't have been elected without it. Obama also made heavy use of social media in his election campaign; maybe he wouldn't have been elected without it. No, I was referring to the links between social media and depression. But you can add to the list FB leaking personal information to political campaigns.
ionised 8y ago
People overestimate (to absurd degrees) just how much they personally or society in general will be impacted if for example Google and Facebook left their countries. Replacements and workarounds would pop up almost instantly. I can speak from personal experience that leaving Google and Facebook only hurts at first (because migrating emails to new addresses and domains is always a pain), then it's like they were never even there.

logicchains 8y ago

>To play devil’s advocate here: if social media companies were to desert a particular country, (unlikely as it is)...would it harm society in any significant way? Society is made up of people, and a significant number of these people use Facebook. I imagine they wouldn't be particularly happy if it was taken away from them. How do you feel when somebody suddenly decides to take away something you like because they believe they know better than you about what's good for you? >Facebook, in particular seems to be a cesspit... Your experiences of Facebook are not representative of everybody's. The people in my circle of friends use Facebook to post jokes and memes, and keep in touch with extended family. I can't see how you'd accidentally come across extremist content unless either you're looking for it or your friends post it, in which case shouldn't your friends be the one you take issue with for sharing it? >in fact I spoke to a colleague who is mentally fragile, and gets worked up by looking at extremist Facebook pages... Mental illness is a tragic thing, but taking away Facebook won't solve it. Mentally ill people are distressed by many kinds of social interaction; would you suggest banning them all? >Add the other issues caused by social media, and it might be a blessing in disguise if they shut down. What other issues exactly? Trump being elected? Not everybody considers than an issue, e.g. the people who voted for him, and it's certainly not settled science that he wouldn't have been elected without it. Obama also made heavy use of social media in his election campaign; maybe he wouldn't have been elected without it. Personally social media has improved my life immensely, making it possible to keep in touch with people I'd otherwise have lost contact with completely. I can't be the only one. But I imagine on a social network like Hackernews you won't get a representative sample of the broader population, as engineers are more introverted on average, and introverts may get less value out of large social networks, digital or otherwise.

throwawaygx 8y ago
Mental illness is a tragic thing, but taking away Facebook won't solve it. Mentally ill people are distressed by many kinds of social interaction; would you suggest banning them all? The person in question doesn't have many friends, and spends hours going down rabbit holes on FB and YouTube. He expresses some extreme views for someone at the stage of life he's in, that mirror the opinions he sees on Facebook, and he repeatedly makes borderline violent threats. He lacks the nous to understand the difference between trolling and genuine comment. He isn't distressed by Facebook as much as he is emboldened by what he sees as a like-minded community. If Facebook didn't exist, he wouldn't seek such information out, since he isn't a particularly active consumer of information. It seems to encourage craziness, as someone else here pointed out, by allowing people who would otherwise be isolated from each other to congregate and reinforce extreme views. What other issues exactly? Trump being elected? Not everybody considers than an issue, e.g. the people who voted for him, and it's certainly not settled science that he wouldn't have been elected without it. Obama also made heavy use of social media in his election campaign; maybe he wouldn't have been elected without it. No, I was referring to the links between social media and depression. But you can add to the list FB leaking personal information to political campaigns.

ionised 8y ago

People overestimate (to absurd degrees) just how much they personally or society in general will be impacted if for example Google and Facebook left their countries. Replacements and workarounds would pop up almost instantly. I can speak from personal experience that leaving Google and Facebook only hurts at first (because migrating emails to new addresses and domains is always a pain), then it's like they were never even there.