3 ms·

Social media is killing discourse because it’s too much like TV (2016)

21 points by Kaibeezy 5y ago

yung_steezy 5y ago
Great article. I sometimes wonder if one of the issues with discourse on the internet is user accounts. On social media we have online virtual personae that we cultivate and pay attention to like a tamagotchi. That leads to people being in two minds during every discourse - 'what do I think about this?' and 'what does my persona think about this?' don't always align. It becomes more challenging to admit faults, play devils advocate or experiment with different views.
- Kaibeezy 5y ago
  Agree. People use personas for protection. Discussions are both fully exposed and so often quickly become contentious. It’s rare to find a safe space within which to develop a view.
- fragileone 5y ago
  Self-censorship is far worse when you're forced to use your real identity online. Then you have crazies online who might start cyberstalking, sending things to your family and friends, trying to get you fired from your job, etc. Personas have limitations but the social cooling from real-life repercussions is far greater.
nowherebeen 5y ago
> Then for six years I got disconnected; when I left prison and came back online, I was confronted by a brave new world. Facebook and Twitter had replaced blogging and had made the Internet like TV: centralized and image-centered, with content embedded in pictures, without links. > Like TV it now increasingly entertains us, and even more so than television it amplifies our existing beliefs and habits. It makes us feel more than think, and it comforts more than challenges. The result is a deeply fragmented society, driven by emotions, and radicalized by lack of contact and challenge from outside. This is why Oxford Dictionaries designated “post-truth” as the word of 2016: an adjective "relating to circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than emotional appeals." That’s quite intriguing. I never thought about it this way.
- Kaibeezy 5y ago
  Humans have a long, deep and broad history of being told and shown stuff, whether epic poetry, puppet shows, political oratory, folk singers, etc., so it’s not new. What’s new is the precipitous drop in access to, and consumption of, medium- to long-form written materials. The collective cognitive limitations of a culture of non-readers are truly terrifying. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25311662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25311662

21 points by Kaibeezy 5y ago

Great article. I sometimes wonder if one of the issues with discourse on the internet is user accounts. On social media we have online virtual personae that we cultivate and pay attention to like a tamagotchi. That leads to people being in two minds during every discourse - 'what do I think about this?' and 'what does my persona think about this?' don't always align. It becomes more challenging to admit faults, play devils advocate or experiment with different views.

Kaibeezy 5y ago
Agree. People use personas for protection. Discussions are both fully exposed and so often quickly become contentious. It’s rare to find a safe space within which to develop a view.
fragileone 5y ago
Self-censorship is far worse when you're forced to use your real identity online. Then you have crazies online who might start cyberstalking, sending things to your family and friends, trying to get you fired from your job, etc. Personas have limitations but the social cooling from real-life repercussions is far greater.

nowherebeen 5y ago

> Then for six years I got disconnected; when I left prison and came back online, I was confronted by a brave new world. Facebook and Twitter had replaced blogging and had made the Internet like TV: centralized and image-centered, with content embedded in pictures, without links. > Like TV it now increasingly entertains us, and even more so than television it amplifies our existing beliefs and habits. It makes us feel more than think, and it comforts more than challenges. The result is a deeply fragmented society, driven by emotions, and radicalized by lack of contact and challenge from outside. This is why Oxford Dictionaries designated “post-truth” as the word of 2016: an adjective "relating to circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than emotional appeals." That’s quite intriguing. I never thought about it this way.

Kaibeezy 5y ago
Humans have a long, deep and broad history of being told and shown stuff, whether epic poetry, puppet shows, political oratory, folk singers, etc., so it’s not new. What’s new is the precipitous drop in access to, and consumption of, medium- to long-form written materials. The collective cognitive limitations of a culture of non-readers are truly terrifying. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25311662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25311662