4 ms·
The problem is not "social media", that's just an insanely broad and poorly category. HN is probably "social media". Many games are probably "social media". Th
by elric 1y ago
The problem is not "social media", that's just an insanely broad and poorly category. HN is probably "social media". Many games are probably "social media".
The problem is that certain platforms exploit people for profit by feeding them crap, from political propaganda to ads for weight loss drugs. Many of them are designed to be addictive so folks can keep up "engagement". Enough eyeballs make all crap profitable, or something like that.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are tons of great platforms that young people can benefit from, and vice versa. Including HN. Many subreddits. Tons of forums. Loads online games.
Ban the exploitation. Ban the propaganda. Ban the abuse. But don't ban young people.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- doctorpangloss 1y agoI agree that it's a broad category, and that Hacker News is social media. But of all the problematic advertising you could choose, you choose instead political advertising and semaglutide ads?
- mrweasel 1y agoThat's probably the solution: You can run a social media, but you have to do it ad free. Charge people if you need to, but you cannot run ads. What fucks up social media is the constant need to "engagement".
- doctorpangloss 1y agothis is a familiar discourse. Ads are more than a thing you "run," they're an idea. You can't destroy the idea of ads. "Ad free" isn't possible to guarantee. Does this make sense?
- mrweasel 1y agoFirst part makes sense, ad free seems very possible to me, especially if backed by legislation.