4 ms·

Part of the problem is a lot of people enjoy the anger.

by MattGaiser 5y ago

jimt1234 5y ago
This ^^^!!! People are, or can be, total garbage, especially when they're behind a keyboard and not face-to-face.
- akira2501 5y ago
  Our evolutionary history is not filled with times of peace and enlightenment. Simply creating the internet and giving to the public wasn't going to change this fundamental equation. The need to judge these people as "garbage" who simply aren't handling technology well is worthy of interest itself.
  - MattGaiser 5y ago
    It isn't that they aren't handling technology well. It is that a large segment of the population consists of terrible people. Technology is just their latest way of being terrible.
- BoxOfRain 5y ago
  I can absolutely confirm this, I fell down an unfortunate rabbit hole of posting about politics on Reddit (fairly mainstream politics, but politics nonetheless). There's nothing quite like the dopamine rush of righteous anger, and mixing that with the disinhibition of just being another pseudonym it's quite easy to understand why "enrangement is engagement" is such a powerful and insideous tool to drive people's use of social media. I was a shitehawk and I'm not afraid to admit it. I'd never advocate something as obviously ridiculous as requiring ID to post on social media or the other sort of rubbish people outside of the tech industry come up with to deal with this problem, though I'd also point out that quitting Reddit did wonders for my mental health and generally made me less of an arse. Facebook strikes me as even worse, even more tuned towards pissing you off and preying on that human need to have the last word.
  - jimt1234 5y ago
    As I recall, when Facebook was first becoming a thing, a major narrative was that the quality of discourse and level of civility would be so much better than anonymous platforms - after all, they're your friends, of course they're gonna be on their best behavior. Seems that didn't happen, at least partially because Facebook figured out that civility is boring, doesn't get clicks.
amelius 5y ago
There must be a better word for "enjoy" here.
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  Revel in? I think it makes sense though. We live in a world where trolls are happy to cause all manner of misery.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Freskis 5y ago
  I think it's called "doomscrolling".
  - Applejinx 5y ago
    That's what I called it just before I deleted Twitter and Facebook. I made a dummy Twitter account to be logged into, that has no friends, just to be able to see links people post. There's no such thing as a dummy Facebook account and I've not looked at anything on Facebook since. The only account there is their shadow account on me, something Twitter has no interest in doing, and which Facebook must do so it can accurately assign accounts to every living human and avoid dummy/sockpuppet accounts.
- JohnWhigham 5y ago
  In a way one's politics has usurped one's religion. People are getting upset at others having differing political opinions the way they get upset at others having different religious beliefs. And they hold their beliefs as sacrosanct. Their identities are inextricably linked to being a Democrat/Republican/etc. It's profoundly sad.
wintermutestwin 5y ago
Orwell's prescient "Two minutes of hate."
snarf21 5y ago
For sure, but it is also that outrage is hugely profitable. We need a digital advertising tax on revenue. By making all these internet companies so profitable, we've given them perverse incentives to make it worse.

Part of the problem is a lot of people enjoy the anger.

jimt1234 5y ago

This ^^^!!! People are, or can be, total garbage, especially when they're behind a keyboard and not face-to-face.

akira2501 5y ago
Our evolutionary history is not filled with times of peace and enlightenment. Simply creating the internet and giving to the public wasn't going to change this fundamental equation. The need to judge these people as "garbage" who simply aren't handling technology well is worthy of interest itself.
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  It isn't that they aren't handling technology well. It is that a large segment of the population consists of terrible people. Technology is just their latest way of being terrible.
BoxOfRain 5y ago
I can absolutely confirm this, I fell down an unfortunate rabbit hole of posting about politics on Reddit (fairly mainstream politics, but politics nonetheless). There's nothing quite like the dopamine rush of righteous anger, and mixing that with the disinhibition of just being another pseudonym it's quite easy to understand why "enrangement is engagement" is such a powerful and insideous tool to drive people's use of social media. I was a shitehawk and I'm not afraid to admit it. I'd never advocate something as obviously ridiculous as requiring ID to post on social media or the other sort of rubbish people outside of the tech industry come up with to deal with this problem, though I'd also point out that quitting Reddit did wonders for my mental health and generally made me less of an arse. Facebook strikes me as even worse, even more tuned towards pissing you off and preying on that human need to have the last word.
- jimt1234 5y ago
  As I recall, when Facebook was first becoming a thing, a major narrative was that the quality of discourse and level of civility would be so much better than anonymous platforms - after all, they're your friends, of course they're gonna be on their best behavior. Seems that didn't happen, at least partially because Facebook figured out that civility is boring, doesn't get clicks.

amelius 5y ago

There must be a better word for "enjoy" here.

MattGaiser 5y ago
Revel in? I think it makes sense though. We live in a world where trolls are happy to cause all manner of misery.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Freskis 5y ago
I think it's called "doomscrolling".
- Applejinx 5y ago
  That's what I called it just before I deleted Twitter and Facebook. I made a dummy Twitter account to be logged into, that has no friends, just to be able to see links people post. There's no such thing as a dummy Facebook account and I've not looked at anything on Facebook since. The only account there is their shadow account on me, something Twitter has no interest in doing, and which Facebook must do so it can accurately assign accounts to every living human and avoid dummy/sockpuppet accounts.
JohnWhigham 5y ago
In a way one's politics has usurped one's religion. People are getting upset at others having differing political opinions the way they get upset at others having different religious beliefs. And they hold their beliefs as sacrosanct. Their identities are inextricably linked to being a Democrat/Republican/etc. It's profoundly sad.

wintermutestwin 5y ago

Orwell's prescient "Two minutes of hate."

snarf21 5y ago

For sure, but it is also that outrage is hugely profitable. We need a digital advertising tax on revenue. By making all these internet companies so profitable, we've given them perverse incentives to make it worse.