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Social media sucks
People call stuff like Lemmy, 4chan or Reddit social media too but to me it's always these Facebook or Instagram style self-presentation platforms. All of them suck ass.
I'd categorize these as forums rather than social media. I mean there isnt that much socializing happening around here
Neither is it on social media anymore, it's all just dick measuring, scams, MLMs, attention seeking and hating on outgroups now.
I call it asocial media, personally.
Anti-social media.
Forums are also social medias
True those are definitely worse
One thing I'm not a fan of is the argument that "it is what you make of it," because platforms act entirely differently depending on the other users, the algorithms, methods of interaction, interface, content and culture. Its very difficult for me to to have a good time on facebook because it fails in a lot of those aspects: toxic users, algorithms tbat push nonsense, a bad interface, incompatible content and culture. The general theme is that many social media sites end up being very polarizing and echo chambery.
Envy has existed far longer than social media, none of these things would go away if social media doesn't exist. Social media just amplifies it.
Comparison has always been the thief of joy.
Yep, "keeping up with the Jones's" was a phrase I heard growing up in the 1980s
Also, attachment leads to suffering
Communication is a good thing.
But that's not what most social media facilitates. The mainstream platforms were about staying in touch with friends and family, once, but now they are about parasocial celebrity worship and broadcasting your life in a fake light of endless positivity. All the while secretly hating the habit of feigned contentment, never realising everyone else is doing the same.
Social media could be about sharing our passions, forming real and meaningful connections with other individuals around the world, as well as truly coming to know ourselves as a species on a global scale.
Some small parts of it are exactly that.
Those are the parts I'm trying to perpetuate and nurture, and though they are a tiny part of the whole thing right now, it does mean it isn't all bad.