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I feel like the people who discuss social media policies are people who don't even use it. I agree it may be quite toxic, which is even why I uninstalled all of

I feel like the people who discuss social media policies are people who don't even use it. I agree it may be quite toxic, which is even why I uninstalled all of it on my phone recently, but I know many who benefit (socially and/or financially) from tiktok, instagram, etc..

moab 6y ago
At what cost, and with what kind of externalities? Individual rewards that come at the expense of social / public health, the inability to have nuanced political conversations, and depressive symptoms for a broad segment of the userbase sounds like a "social ponzi-scheme" to me.
drivingmenuts 6y ago
To me, it seems like the people who have the biggest issues are the ones who get called out for breaking platform rules or just don’t gain the kind of popularity they desire. Those who lie and astroturf and try to gin up fake popularity are in one camp; those who discover that their opposition is just more effective in another. Both camps want to regulate social media due to perceived unfairness. Neither one really seems to care about privacy for privacy’s sake.
- ttt0 6y ago
  It seems that way, because these are the people that are the most vocal about it. Indeed, most people who complain about this are just grifters. The reason you don't hear about normal people complaining about this is because they are nobodies, they have no other platform to speak out when they get banned. The rules are almost always really vague and it's not clear what you can or cannot do. For example facebook can ban you if what you've said might be interpreted by someone as offensive. From what I've remember, they specifically say that what you've actually meant does not matter. If someone just might think it's offensive, you get a 30 day ban. At least they used to have this rule at the time I left facebook, and I left it precisely for that reason.
eindiran 6y ago
> I feel like the people who discuss social media policies are people who don't even use it. Many of the people discussing regulating the fossil fuels industry are people outside of it: when you aren't directly benefiting from a system, it is easier to see what its externalities are. > I know many who benefit (socially and/or financially) from tiktok, instagram, etc. Again, this fails to factor in the externalities to people off the platform (or even the harms to other people on the platform). The cost benefit analysis can't just look at the people who actively use (and benefit) from something; if you had asked only people who worked in the refrigerator/aerosol industries in the 70s whether CFCs were a bad thing, you'd get a pretty skewed answer. See also: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair

moab 6y ago

At what cost, and with what kind of externalities? Individual rewards that come at the expense of social / public health, the inability to have nuanced political conversations, and depressive symptoms for a broad segment of the userbase sounds like a "social ponzi-scheme" to me.

drivingmenuts 6y ago

To me, it seems like the people who have the biggest issues are the ones who get called out for breaking platform rules or just don’t gain the kind of popularity they desire. Those who lie and astroturf and try to gin up fake popularity are in one camp; those who discover that their opposition is just more effective in another. Both camps want to regulate social media due to perceived unfairness. Neither one really seems to care about privacy for privacy’s sake.

ttt0 6y ago
It seems that way, because these are the people that are the most vocal about it. Indeed, most people who complain about this are just grifters. The reason you don't hear about normal people complaining about this is because they are nobodies, they have no other platform to speak out when they get banned. The rules are almost always really vague and it's not clear what you can or cannot do. For example facebook can ban you if what you've said might be interpreted by someone as offensive. From what I've remember, they specifically say that what you've actually meant does not matter. If someone just might think it's offensive, you get a 30 day ban. At least they used to have this rule at the time I left facebook, and I left it precisely for that reason.

eindiran 6y ago

> I feel like the people who discuss social media policies are people who don't even use it. Many of the people discussing regulating the fossil fuels industry are people outside of it: when you aren't directly benefiting from a system, it is easier to see what its externalities are. > I know many who benefit (socially and/or financially) from tiktok, instagram, etc. Again, this fails to factor in the externalities to people off the platform (or even the harms to other people on the platform). The cost benefit analysis can't just look at the people who actively use (and benefit) from something; if you had asked only people who worked in the refrigerator/aerosol industries in the 70s whether CFCs were a bad thing, you'd get a pretty skewed answer. See also: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair