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> Has social media been a benefit for humanity? Definitely yes. It was a miracle when in started, it changed everything. But at a later stage it was ruined by

by allarm 4y ago

> Has social media been a benefit for humanity? Definitely yes. It was a miracle when in started, it changed everything. But at a later stage it was ruined by engagement and ads and recommended content and crippled ux. I’ve not used any social network for years because I just couldn’t force myself to get through the piles of crap just to connect with my friends and contacts. I’ve been using other methods since then.

spikeagally 4y ago
>> Definitely yes. It was a miracle when in started, it changed everything. Just because it “changed everything” doesn’t mean it was a benefit to humanity. In what ways would you say it has been beneficial for humanity? We already have plenty of communication tools for keeping in touch with friends.
- zimpenfish 4y ago
  > We already have plenty of communication tools for keeping in touch with friends. Nothing that covers the same gamut of easy to use, easy to find people, etc.
- allarm 4y ago
  I can’t think of any tools that allowed building a social graph. It was a novelty back in 00 and it was nice to have your close circle be easily discoverable and reachable. In a sense of discoverability social media was a benefit to many, many people. Before that it was ICQ/other ims and email only. And before that I had to write down the contact details; I remember having physical notebooks with addresses and phone numbers of people, back in early 90s. Don’t you think it was a nice thing to finally be able to easily connect with people?
  - spikeagally 4y ago
    It’s nice. It’s useful. I totally agree. But “Benefit for humanity” sounds much more grandiose and undeservingly so in my opinion.
    - allarm 4y ago
      Maybe. I rather opposed it to a harm to humanity. I’m not ready to discuss the absolute values. Let’s say I see the Internet as an absolute benefit to humanity and the social networks are (were) a useful part of it.
    - ipaddr 4y ago
      It doesn't have to be. You recycling your pop can is a benefit for society.
ndsipa_pomu 4y ago
Unfortunately, capitalism tends to destroy attempts at being social. This is evident when social media starts amplifying posts to get more 'engagement' with the intent to sell more advertising whereas a more social version would be to amplify posts that are interesting or resonate with a lot of people. Hacker News is an example of social media that attempts to not fall into that monetising trap. The biggest problem that I see with social media is when it teams up with political influence and then we end up with problems such as Cambridge Analytica and democracy gets damaged.

by allarm 4y ago

spikeagally 4y ago

>> Definitely yes. It was a miracle when in started, it changed everything. Just because it “changed everything” doesn’t mean it was a benefit to humanity. In what ways would you say it has been beneficial for humanity? We already have plenty of communication tools for keeping in touch with friends.

zimpenfish 4y ago
> We already have plenty of communication tools for keeping in touch with friends. Nothing that covers the same gamut of easy to use, easy to find people, etc.
allarm 4y ago
I can’t think of any tools that allowed building a social graph. It was a novelty back in 00 and it was nice to have your close circle be easily discoverable and reachable. In a sense of discoverability social media was a benefit to many, many people. Before that it was ICQ/other ims and email only. And before that I had to write down the contact details; I remember having physical notebooks with addresses and phone numbers of people, back in early 90s. Don’t you think it was a nice thing to finally be able to easily connect with people?
- spikeagally 4y ago
  It’s nice. It’s useful. I totally agree. But “Benefit for humanity” sounds much more grandiose and undeservingly so in my opinion.
  - allarm 4y ago
    Maybe. I rather opposed it to a harm to humanity. I’m not ready to discuss the absolute values. Let’s say I see the Internet as an absolute benefit to humanity and the social networks are (were) a useful part of it.
  - ipaddr 4y ago
    It doesn't have to be. You recycling your pop can is a benefit for society.

ndsipa_pomu 4y ago

Unfortunately, capitalism tends to destroy attempts at being social. This is evident when social media starts amplifying posts to get more 'engagement' with the intent to sell more advertising whereas a more social version would be to amplify posts that are interesting or resonate with a lot of people. Hacker News is an example of social media that attempts to not fall into that monetising trap. The biggest problem that I see with social media is when it teams up with political influence and then we end up with problems such as Cambridge Analytica and democracy gets damaged.