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The problem with social media
4 years ago
Posted this in response to a journal of someone I watch; but I thought it was worth sharing in general. Some tidbits of food for thought when you use social media.
I challenge all of you to follow someone who you normally wouldn't follow, be it on twitter, facebook, or anywhere else.
To be aware of what social media is built to do, and to reflect on how you use social media, what your perceptions of the world are, and why you have such perceptions.
Find someone who has a different perspective than you do, and get to know that person and have an honest dialogue with them about how both your perspectives differ and why.
The problem with social media is it's built to only show what people -want- to see because we have built it to learn what people like and only show them more of that, or what fits their personal worldview or lens; so it reinforces all of the bad and usually enhances none of the good. Like any computer algorithm or robot also, if you only feed it shit, then you'll only get shit. The internet and more so the social media dumpster fire has made it possible for people to only live in their safe-space bubble, and not naturally challenge their own personal views or be exposed to other views, causing a reinforcing bias of bullshit we start to believe. It is designed and built to isolate us into our bubbles of comfort, enhance and reinforce our own viewpoints and keep us from others who have differing viewpoints; so we should expect this to happen. While the increased isolation and information bubbles may make us feel comfortable, they also fail to help us challenge the way each of us uniquely sees the world, and more importantly how others see the world. We shouldn't treat others the way WE want to be treated; we should treat others the way THEY want to be treated. It has caused us to have less compassion/empathy and resultingly less exposure to other viewpoints people have and the motives and reasons behind them. I think if we all challenge ourselves to see other people's views that make us uncomfortable, it will allow us to explore and really deep dive into the way we all see the world and why, and have more respect for others which will finally help us all to have a truly meaningful dialogue. Until this happens though, it's going to still be shit in and shit out. I personally have a twitter, but rarely do I ever use it or interact with it, and mostly use it to just to announce local group events.
I challenge all of you to follow someone who you normally wouldn't follow, be it on twitter, facebook, or anywhere else.
To be aware of what social media is built to do, and to reflect on how you use social media, what your perceptions of the world are, and why you have such perceptions.
Find someone who has a different perspective than you do, and get to know that person and have an honest dialogue with them about how both your perspectives differ and why.
The problem with social media is it's built to only show what people -want- to see because we have built it to learn what people like and only show them more of that, or what fits their personal worldview or lens; so it reinforces all of the bad and usually enhances none of the good. Like any computer algorithm or robot also, if you only feed it shit, then you'll only get shit. The internet and more so the social media dumpster fire has made it possible for people to only live in their safe-space bubble, and not naturally challenge their own personal views or be exposed to other views, causing a reinforcing bias of bullshit we start to believe. It is designed and built to isolate us into our bubbles of comfort, enhance and reinforce our own viewpoints and keep us from others who have differing viewpoints; so we should expect this to happen. While the increased isolation and information bubbles may make us feel comfortable, they also fail to help us challenge the way each of us uniquely sees the world, and more importantly how others see the world. We shouldn't treat others the way WE want to be treated; we should treat others the way THEY want to be treated. It has caused us to have less compassion/empathy and resultingly less exposure to other viewpoints people have and the motives and reasons behind them. I think if we all challenge ourselves to see other people's views that make us uncomfortable, it will allow us to explore and really deep dive into the way we all see the world and why, and have more respect for others which will finally help us all to have a truly meaningful dialogue. Until this happens though, it's going to still be shit in and shit out. I personally have a twitter, but rarely do I ever use it or interact with it, and mostly use it to just to announce local group events.
Furs are mostly a younger crowd and easily influenced by their peers. It's really discouraging seeing folks doing what they are to themselves and the world around them as a result of their following.
As long as a majority of people keep using them, I don't know if things will ever get better.