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Instagram is borderline a porn/gore website if you open a new account and spend one day doom scrolling The amount of nsfw content including women “breastfeedin

by r0fl 2y ago

Instagram is borderline a porn/gore website if you open a new account and spend one day doom scrolling The amount of nsfw content including women “breastfeeding” fake babies, wild accidents, weird ultra graphic shock videos is insane. I have a few accounts that I use to post for work. My explore pages are wild compared to my personal account which is mostly tech, cars and architecture I don’t “like” anything on my work accounts, ever, the algorithm just knows what to feed me because of what I click on the most (impossible not to click on those thumbnails)

milesrout 2y ago
[flagged]
- faxmeyourcode 2y ago
  As always, it's the users who are at fault. Nevermind the thousands of kids and teens who are exposed to this shit day in and day out.
  - milesrout 2y ago
    It is the user's fault when the user says in his post that he doesn't interact with the algorithm or give it anything to go on except to click on content he doesn't like and then lo and behold it gives him content he doesn't like. Children should not be on social media at all.
    - faxmeyourcode 2y ago
      So the algorithm should show an elephant stomping a man to death to anyone who starts a new account until they "correct" "their algorithm" by interacting with better content? The issue is that users are being pushed towards violence, gore, and pornography by default. The bar for these giant multi billion dollar tech companies with hundreds of thousands of employees and the most advanced AI tech in the world is truly as low as it's ever been.
  - arkh 2y ago
    Before social media you had sites like rotten. And if you were a teenager with access to internet you perused some of those.
    - UncleMeat 2y ago
      There's been garbage online forever. But you had to seek it out and if you didn't visit those sites you weren't going to come across this content organically in the same way. Now you just have an infinite feed that shows you this stuff organically and unless you are diligent in clicking "not interested" over and over, it'll show up in your feed more and more often.
    - faxmeyourcode 2y ago
      You didn't stumble up on Rotten while scrolling past your cousin's prom photos like you do with "suggested reels" on Insta. It's being deliberately pushed to the kids, that's my problem.
    - r0fl 2y ago
      You checked out rotten once in a while A lot of users spend HOURS each day doom scrolling and are exposed to 1000s of pieces of such content weekly if not daily
- UncleMeat 2y ago
  Shocking and enraging content activates minds. These products don't just count likes but also things like pausing your scroll over a piece of content. It is really hard to avoid the immediate lizard-brain response of pausing over shocking content, leading to more and more of this content. The net effect is a product that doesn't make people feel happy or enriched but a product that makes people feel angry and stressed but in a way that is difficult to pull away from.
- r0fl 2y ago
  I’m surprised the “carp” is there in the first place. Without me clicking anything at all, on a brand new fresh account with zero prior interaction with any content
whalesalad 2y ago
this is why instagram is so fun. a lot of people have their friend group chats in imessage, wechat, fb msg etc... but the best group chats i've ever belonged to are on insta and the unhinged meme feed is glorious.
karmakaze 2y ago
I don't use Instagram or any social media apps--I do use webapps. For Youtube if I'm tempted to click something I wouldn't have searched for myself I use open in private. I mark watched videos with a Like. I also actively click "Not Interested" and even "Do not recommend channel". My recommendations are narrowly curated. I even got Youtube to 'run out' of recommendations showing me the same set on reloads.
- penr0se 2y ago
  Same here. I had to create a custom uBlock filter for YouTube because it ran out of recommendations and half of the suggested videos in my home page were from my Watch Later playlist.
- chrisjj 2y ago
  > For Youtube if I'm tempted to click something I wouldn't have searched for myself I use open in private. Private browsing? I think that's not this kind of private.
  - karmakaze 2y ago
    We're talking about recommended content. I can't tell if you're trying to be pedantic.
mrtksn 2y ago
On the "Threads" app I got very similar experience, a lot of breastfeeding erotica and other weird adult content that made me feel I'm doing something illegal. Also, their algorithm must be assessing human features too because at some point Instagram started showing me women with ever largest breasts. I get that they try to understand what I'm into but it's utterly ridiculous to push for the more and more extreme. I wonder how large is the cohort for all these weird stuff, considering that Instagram itself works as "not a creep" credit score when you meet someone new. Recently I gave in, started following some of those weird accounts and bookmarking deep fake scam ads out of fascination, probably adding fuel to the fire. It's just immensely weird.
mrbonner 2y ago
You can say the same thing about Snapchat. My kid had this on their phone last year. I check the phone from time (12 yo) to time to make sure there is no weird stuff or message in there. I open Snapchat and saw the "recommend feed" with very "strange" thumbnails. I deleted the app and told them not to install again. I put the restrictions to their apple account to explicitly forbid apps for 4 year+. Somehow Snapchat is for 10+. Am I crazy?
- disqard 2y ago
  You are not crazy. I recommend you look up Eric Sadin's "The Injuctive Turn of Technology". It provides a succinct (and disconcertingly accurate) framework for looking at the trajectory of technology vis-a-vis ordinary people / end-users.
throwaway2016a 2y ago
X is similar now for new accounts now. Except it's not just the timeline content, it is the advertisers too. My active account gets regular advertisers but my inactive one has all X rated and scam advertisements. And tons of "18+" bots that will go around auto-liking people's posts.
- r0fl 2y ago
  I have the complete opposite X experience I have a new account, I only follow ai, coding and tech accounts My following page is amazing! Not one dumb thing in my face. The for you feed is garbage but I never go there
  - throwaway2016a 2y ago
    I have no doubt that is your experience and it's good to hear some people are having good experiences with it. My main account is fine but I have an account that follows very few other accounts (it's for a product I was building that never really took off) and I just signed in and scrolled until I hit 8 ads. The ads were in this order (completely unedited list... I'm not editorializing here): - Robinhood - A very explicit "male enhancement" ad - A movie ad for a movie I've never heard of until now - A "bedroom aid" (blue pill) - A marijuana dispensary - A scammy looking mobile app - Another ad for a pill for men who are having trouble in the bedroom - An affiliate marketing scam ... I stopped scrolling at that point because it felt like enough.

by r0fl 2y ago

milesrout 2y ago

[flagged]

faxmeyourcode 2y ago
As always, it's the users who are at fault. Nevermind the thousands of kids and teens who are exposed to this shit day in and day out.
- milesrout 2y ago
  It is the user's fault when the user says in his post that he doesn't interact with the algorithm or give it anything to go on except to click on content he doesn't like and then lo and behold it gives him content he doesn't like. Children should not be on social media at all.
  - faxmeyourcode 2y ago
    So the algorithm should show an elephant stomping a man to death to anyone who starts a new account until they "correct" "their algorithm" by interacting with better content? The issue is that users are being pushed towards violence, gore, and pornography by default. The bar for these giant multi billion dollar tech companies with hundreds of thousands of employees and the most advanced AI tech in the world is truly as low as it's ever been.
- arkh 2y ago
  Before social media you had sites like rotten. And if you were a teenager with access to internet you perused some of those.
  - UncleMeat 2y ago
    There's been garbage online forever. But you had to seek it out and if you didn't visit those sites you weren't going to come across this content organically in the same way. Now you just have an infinite feed that shows you this stuff organically and unless you are diligent in clicking "not interested" over and over, it'll show up in your feed more and more often.
  - faxmeyourcode 2y ago
    You didn't stumble up on Rotten while scrolling past your cousin's prom photos like you do with "suggested reels" on Insta. It's being deliberately pushed to the kids, that's my problem.
  - r0fl 2y ago
    You checked out rotten once in a while A lot of users spend HOURS each day doom scrolling and are exposed to 1000s of pieces of such content weekly if not daily
UncleMeat 2y ago
Shocking and enraging content activates minds. These products don't just count likes but also things like pausing your scroll over a piece of content. It is really hard to avoid the immediate lizard-brain response of pausing over shocking content, leading to more and more of this content. The net effect is a product that doesn't make people feel happy or enriched but a product that makes people feel angry and stressed but in a way that is difficult to pull away from.
r0fl 2y ago
I’m surprised the “carp” is there in the first place. Without me clicking anything at all, on a brand new fresh account with zero prior interaction with any content

whalesalad 2y ago

this is why instagram is so fun. a lot of people have their friend group chats in imessage, wechat, fb msg etc... but the best group chats i've ever belonged to are on insta and the unhinged meme feed is glorious.

karmakaze 2y ago

I don't use Instagram or any social media apps--I do use webapps. For Youtube if I'm tempted to click something I wouldn't have searched for myself I use open in private. I mark watched videos with a Like. I also actively click "Not Interested" and even "Do not recommend channel". My recommendations are narrowly curated. I even got Youtube to 'run out' of recommendations showing me the same set on reloads.

penr0se 2y ago
Same here. I had to create a custom uBlock filter for YouTube because it ran out of recommendations and half of the suggested videos in my home page were from my Watch Later playlist.
chrisjj 2y ago
> For Youtube if I'm tempted to click something I wouldn't have searched for myself I use open in private. Private browsing? I think that's not this kind of private.
- karmakaze 2y ago
  We're talking about recommended content. I can't tell if you're trying to be pedantic.

mrtksn 2y ago

On the "Threads" app I got very similar experience, a lot of breastfeeding erotica and other weird adult content that made me feel I'm doing something illegal. Also, their algorithm must be assessing human features too because at some point Instagram started showing me women with ever largest breasts. I get that they try to understand what I'm into but it's utterly ridiculous to push for the more and more extreme. I wonder how large is the cohort for all these weird stuff, considering that Instagram itself works as "not a creep" credit score when you meet someone new. Recently I gave in, started following some of those weird accounts and bookmarking deep fake scam ads out of fascination, probably adding fuel to the fire. It's just immensely weird.

mrbonner 2y ago

You can say the same thing about Snapchat. My kid had this on their phone last year. I check the phone from time (12 yo) to time to make sure there is no weird stuff or message in there. I open Snapchat and saw the "recommend feed" with very "strange" thumbnails. I deleted the app and told them not to install again. I put the restrictions to their apple account to explicitly forbid apps for 4 year+. Somehow Snapchat is for 10+. Am I crazy?

disqard 2y ago
You are not crazy. I recommend you look up Eric Sadin's "The Injuctive Turn of Technology". It provides a succinct (and disconcertingly accurate) framework for looking at the trajectory of technology vis-a-vis ordinary people / end-users.

throwaway2016a 2y ago

X is similar now for new accounts now. Except it's not just the timeline content, it is the advertisers too. My active account gets regular advertisers but my inactive one has all X rated and scam advertisements. And tons of "18+" bots that will go around auto-liking people's posts.

r0fl 2y ago
I have the complete opposite X experience I have a new account, I only follow ai, coding and tech accounts My following page is amazing! Not one dumb thing in my face. The for you feed is garbage but I never go there
- throwaway2016a 2y ago
  I have no doubt that is your experience and it's good to hear some people are having good experiences with it. My main account is fine but I have an account that follows very few other accounts (it's for a product I was building that never really took off) and I just signed in and scrolled until I hit 8 ads. The ads were in this order (completely unedited list... I'm not editorializing here): - Robinhood - A very explicit "male enhancement" ad - A movie ad for a movie I've never heard of until now - A "bedroom aid" (blue pill) - A marijuana dispensary - A scammy looking mobile app - Another ad for a pill for men who are having trouble in the bedroom - An affiliate marketing scam ... I stopped scrolling at that point because it felt like enough.