Social media is a plague on the world

Do you think this discussion should only happen by letter? Technology and the Internet is here. The OP has started a conversation about it on Mnet.

You want to boo-yah and call her a hypocrite for doing so? Catch yerself on.

We're trying to have a sensible, grown up discussion here.

Rather hypocritical to be posting on MN then!

Don’t buy your child a phone, other than one they can make calls and send texts on. What else do they need it for? You only have to look around in cafes, theatres, bus stops to see adults not talking to each other, glued to their screens, it’s pathetic how we’ve turned into phone and tech zombies, slaves to social media and in the process creating billionaires of (predominantly) men who behave as though they are the messiah.

This, some people are utterly obsessed with putting everything they do facebook. Nothing is private anymore. The children didn't even give their consent and it starts the minute they are born.

I think it’s awful for dc, I grew up without social media but young people now know no different & there is so much fake news. How does a young person recognise that particularly earn you throw in algorithms.

Is sanity returning? I'd say the past couple of day's madness triggered by one man's whims contradicts that POV.

I didn't understand this either till someone pointed out it has channels. No idea what those have on them.

but I guess that's why people call it social media?

i only use it for messages and neighbours groups. But I was also baffled that people got news alerts sent to their phones. It's bad enough there are 24 hour news channels!

bascially it will create data havens that are more hidden

then if you took away social media, then i give you Musk on the page of every newspaper and on the tv.

people want democracy well unless what he says is illegal then you cannot pick and choose what views you allow unless its an echo chamber your wanting

Snort. I am sure our inept politicians will attempt to write some equally inept legislation.

But what will actually happen is they will write something so useless and slow that the populace will ignore it and do what they were going to do anyway.

I know at least 3 teenagers who run their own private servers for their mates to meet on. All the new legislation will do is push kids out of the open/legal social media and into the private stuff.

Which is obvious to anyone with half a brain/an understanding of teenagers/the internet. Which I admit is a pretty high bar to hold politicians to.

Why do people consider WhatsApp to be social media?

Don't you know that some very dodgy tech bros have been controlling all that you see?

That hasn't changed. It's what we're discussing here.

After the past 8 years of being censored, restricted, blocked and people I know being thrown off of social media for saying simple things like "men aren't women" I'm thoroughly relieved to hear that bias is being lifted and sanity is returning.

As some lament the loss of fact checkers I’m wondering why this basic fact has been so overruled

The system sounds bad for that to prosper

It exacerbates some of the worst tendencies in human nature.
Nope, humans are like that - you just didn't meet those people before.

After the past 8 years of being censored, restricted, blocked and people I know being thrown off of social media for saying simple things like "men aren't women" I'm thoroughly relieved to hear that bias is being lifted and sanity is returning.
The amount of people whinging about it is shocking - don't you know that you've been living in a state where many people have been unable to express themselves and free speech has been in a terrible state? Don't you know that some very dodgy tech bros have been controlling all that you see?

I’d include mn in SM as a forum. As for the other platforms I don’t use FB or X which at least knocks that out

I like IG for light stuff like art, surfing or comedy. That I think can be a nice addition

I think the problem people have with this sudden concern round the dangers of social media is that it was completely fine as long as things were going their way...

I totally agree @Adamante. But it's not past, it's still happening and can be seen in recent posting on Mnet this last few days where a habitual drug taking, erratic megalomaniac is being lauded as Truth Teller and Saviour of the UK.

I agree. It's a f-ing plague. Humans have always been jealous, competitive, hungry for status, quick to boast and big themselves up, etc, but SM has turned the dial up to ten. It exacerbates some of the worst tendencies in human nature.

It's also destroying the art of conversation. Is it just me, or do people increasingly talk at you rather than with you? I mean as if they're posting something on SM? I've noticed this more and more. It's turning everyone into a hyper-competitive, self-promoting monster. But they don't just do it online. People have carried the habit over into their conversations. No one seems capable of sharing ideas or talking objectively. No matter what the topic, they have to bring it back to themselves.

The world is in a state of flux. There's been a massive technological revolution and the internet is still the Wild West, largely unregulated.

Interesting times ahead and it will end with a crackdown on SM sites and the internet as a whole.

And have been since about 2015, probably well before but it only really became noticeable to me with the advent of the Trans madness...

It became very noticeable during the Brexit Refetendum. I left twitter during the trans shitshow. Both should have been valuable lessons to users.

I closed my Twitter when the diseased Musk Rat took over.

Instagram and FB I use for getting tips on things such as hairdressers, businesses, my local area and keeping up with friends and family overseas.

But they are both becoming unusable with the amount of things appearing in my feed that I don’t want to see.

We are living in a post-truth world.

And have been since about 2015, probably well before but it only really became noticeable to me with the advent of the Trans madness when we were all being forced to pretend men were women or have our lives destroyed and scientific evidence was being suppressed to allow children to engage ruinously in gender ideology.

I think the problem people have with this sudden concern round the dangers of social media is that it was completely fine as long as things were going their way, when we now know that for example the US government had intervened with the social media platforms and were directing what could and could not be posted see "The Twitter Files".

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Files

If you're fine with that and didn't find SM massively problematic during those times and still don't, even knowing that was happening, but are now lamenting how dangerous SM is once it is unharnessed from government control then you don't want freedom, you want control and for other political beliefs to be subjugated.

YANBU @StandFirm.

The manipulation of millions by couple of billionaires is dangerous. Hate Posting gives a dopamine hit and is addictive. Facts and nuance are too much bother for many people. They want to hear what they want to hear, even if it's lies and even when they know they're being lied to.

We are living in a post-truth world.

Over the Christmas break I tried to curate my Facebook to get rid of groups that I felt didn’t add anything to my life, I’d already left any political groups/pages after the 2019 election. I got rid of any suggested posts that were just clickbait or so I thought. It’s like whack a mole, every one I get rid of a different one appears. I ought to leave but there are certain private groups I’m a member of that I value.