From: dbucklin@sdf.org
Date: 2018-03-20
Subject: Antisocial Media

I saw papa's Antisocial Media Manifesto [1] and solderpunk's resop-
nse [2] and it got me thinking about social media and what specific
problems I have with it.

I agree with papa's assessment of the structural imbalance inherent
in centralized, for-profit social media platforms, and the risk  of
becoming  dependent  on, and constrained within, such a system.  My
personal distaste for MSM comes from its failure, in my opinion, to
fulfill  its  promise  of keeping me connected to the people I care
about.  For me, the experience of opening up Facebook or Twitter is
overwhelming.   It  feels  like walking into a room full of people,
some of whom I know, all of them talking, not to each other, but at
everyone else in the room.

It's  difficult, at best, for me to maintain a relationship in that
kind of environment.  Of course, we know that this is  intentional.
The  goal of these platforms is to keep you engaged as long as pos-
sible so they can maximize their value to advertisers  and  whoever
else  is willing to pay them for access to your information.  Hence
the algorithms that are used to serve you  content  in  service  of
that goal.

Another  problem  is the use of devices that encourage passive con-
sumption of content and discourage active participation.  I'm talk-
ing  about smartphones.  Smartphones and tablets are media-consump-
tion devices.  Photos aside, it is challenging  to  create  content
using a smartphone.  There is a growing body of research that exam-
ines the effects of social media consumption on happiness and well-
being. [3]

In  other  respects,  the  bar is too low.  Low-effort interactions
such as 'liking', 'favoriting', and posting links without the  need
to  add any commentary create the impression of interaction without
creating any value.  Some blame can  certainly  be  placed  on  the
users,  but  I  think  there is blame to be placed on the tools, as
well.  After all, who were the tools built for?

I don't have a solution for these problems, but I think the  devel-
opment  of a social media hygiene is a step in the right direction.
SM platforms could be rated on how well they  encourage  participa-
tion  and  directed communication over passive consumption and low-
value content.  Today, data privacy is a key concern for most of us
and  I  think  health and well-being need to be considered as well.
For me, social media hygiene means balancing mediated social inter-
actions  (e.g. Facebook, Mastodon, etc.)  with direct social inter-
actions (e.g. coffees, dinners, game night, bike rides).

When papa says, "There is no permanent safe haven for  us  in  this
world,"  I  interpret this as a call to look out for our own inter-
ests.  For-profit enterprise does not exist to serve anyone but its
shareholders.

References

1. gopher://grex.org/0/~papa/pgphlog/2018/alm-Antisocial_Media_Manifesto
2. gopher://circumlunar.space/0/%7esolderpunk/phlog/papas-antisocial-media-manifesto.txt
3. http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~gpanger/docs/p2095-panger-social-comparison.pdf