4 ms·

I can't get behind the last two. I know they can be beneficial, but they can also be damaging. I follow a few people with whom I disagree with fundamentally an

by luord 6y ago

I can't get behind the last two. I know they can be beneficial, but they can also be damaging. I follow a few people with whom I disagree with fundamentally and I don't block anything they say, nor any other topic. I just don't want my social media to turn into an echo chamber. Reading stuff I dislike helps keeping me grounded and reminds me that people who disagree with me are still people, flesh and blood, instead of faceless others. I feel like many, many problems could be solved if more people remembered that. If nothing else, it could reduce polarization.

hosolmaz 6y ago
Maybe I should rephrase it, or make an addition. We do have a societal responsibility to acknowledge and respect opposing views. And I do keep following people who keep it civil and respect the discourse and the medium. The ones I unfollow are generally shills, people who make absolute statements, demagogues that heavily depend on rhetoric instead of substance. Unfortunately, Twitter's format pushes people into this behavior too. In that case, I block, in order not to become a conduit for these people's toxic messages. I block out of responsibility for my own and my followers' sanity. > I feel like many, many problems could be solved if more people remembered that. If nothing else, it could reduce polarization. IMO the platform design and parameters cause this polarization. It's not enough to educate people outside the platform, when the platform is a hotbed of viral messages, and the dominant strategy is to be an "asshole", according to the etiquette of the outside world. On the platform, however, it is what makes your account successful. One idea is to define strict rules of digital etiquette. Kids could be taught these starting at a young age. You could also enforce them algorithmically on the platform.

4 ms·

I can't get behind the last two. I know they can be beneficial, but they can also be damaging. I follow a few people with whom I disagree with fundamentally an

by luord 6y ago

hosolmaz 6y ago
Maybe I should rephrase it, or make an addition. We do have a societal responsibility to acknowledge and respect opposing views. And I do keep following people who keep it civil and respect the discourse and the medium. The ones I unfollow are generally shills, people who make absolute statements, demagogues that heavily depend on rhetoric instead of substance. Unfortunately, Twitter's format pushes people into this behavior too. In that case, I block, in order not to become a conduit for these people's toxic messages. I block out of responsibility for my own and my followers' sanity. > I feel like many, many problems could be solved if more people remembered that. If nothing else, it could reduce polarization. IMO the platform design and parameters cause this polarization. It's not enough to educate people outside the platform, when the platform is a hotbed of viral messages, and the dominant strategy is to be an "asshole", according to the etiquette of the outside world. On the platform, however, it is what makes your account successful. One idea is to define strict rules of digital etiquette. Kids could be taught these starting at a young age. You could also enforce them algorithmically on the platform.