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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Americans got tired of big social media in 2017. Or at least, we stopped wanting to look at it, and we stopped pretending to like it.
This feels true to me as someone who uses the internet every day, but I also know it’s true because when The Verge partnered with Reticle Research to conduct a representative survey of Americans’ attitudes towards tech’s biggest power players, 15.4 percent of Facebook users said they “greatly” or “somewhat” disliked using the product, while 17 percent of Twitter users said the same. That made them the most disliked of the six companies in question, which also included Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. More than 10 percent of respondents described Facebook’s effect on society as “very negative,” and 10.5 percent said the same about Twitter — in both cases a higher number than the other four companies combined.
The survey doesn’t reveal why Americans feel the way they do, but last December, writing about the impulse to call 2016 “the worst year ever,” The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino articulated a pretty good guess as to why spending your time on the web’s massive, news-saturated platforms might feel so bad: “There is no limit to the amount of misfortune a person can take in via the internet,” she says. 2016 couldn’t possibly be the worst year in history, Tolentino decided, but it was the year that convinced her the promise of the social media had been false, and that “the internet would only ever induce the sense of powerlessness that comes when the sphere of what a person can influence remains static, while the sphere of what can influence us seems to expand without limit, allowing no respite at all.”
[...] The old promise of the internet — niche communities, human connection, people exchanging ideas, maybe even paying each other for the work they’d made — never really lost its appeal, but this year it came back with a miniature vengeance.
We can see this longing for community — and specifically, the sort of small, weird communities that populated and defined the early internet — everywhere. There’s Amino, the Tumblr-inspired app that lets fandoms build online spaces that are essentially club houses, then coordinate the creation of elaborate works of fan art, fiction, cosplay, and fandom lore. At the request of its largely teenage audience, the platform released its first cosplay yearbook this December, and doled out honors to the best writing, photography, and tutorials around cosplay. The thousands of fandom-specific rooms are lively and strange, each with their own moderators and byzantine rules.
And there’s the kids who are bending major platforms to their will, having their fun on Instagram but circumventing the intended use by making “finstagrams,” separate, strange accounts that aren’t tied to the Facebook social graph and therefore let users post weirder, funnier content they wouldn’t share to everyone they know.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday January 02 2018, @01:26PM (27 children)
If you greatly dislike using it, why are you using it?
Is someone holding a gun to your head?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday January 02 2018, @01:50PM (6 children)
I think because it's still the best social platform out there and a lot of people, especially older folks are now using it to keep in touch with family. I even have an account that gets uses rarely and keep in touch with distant family who otherwise would be forgotten about. So I get why people would want it.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 02 2018, @04:11PM (2 children)
We are cleaning out the house of a 95 year old friend who died recently. She collected many things, including old post cards. Many of them are over 100 years old, when it cost a penny to mail a card. The ones that are written on, usually have the equivalent of "What's up?" for the message -- so the desire to maintain contact, however trite the message, seems to go way back.
Based on this sample of hundreds of cards, it looks like post cards became the text messages of their day. A little digging into post card history suggests that the earliest ones (c.1890) had the picture on one side and address on the other, no room for any message at all -- so the message was effectively, "I was here", based on the location of the photo. Then in the early 1900's the card printers noted that people were scrawling notes around the outside of the address (we have some like this), so divided the back side for half note & half address/stamp -- the format that is most common today.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday January 02 2018, @05:04PM
That's why the older folks like it. They get to see plenty of pictures of the grand kids, family photos, vacation photos, and comment on them. I can appreciate it for that ability.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday January 02 2018, @05:34PM
Yes, I've seen a stash of such postcards after the death of an older relative too. It's also important to remember that in many locations (particularly large cities), the post office used to deliver multiple times per day.
And somehow they managed to communicate with only punctuation and the occasional smiley face or something... No emojis necessary.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday January 02 2018, @05:03PM (2 children)
I like email: no likes unlikes, etc.
No garbage, no shite. I can make it long or short.
I just couldn't take FB.
Someday, maybe people will get smart, but it'll probably be shit that replaces it. Stupids gotta have stupid.
AND, how many people on FB do you REALLY want to interact with?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday January 02 2018, @05:23PM
Limit function approaches zero.
There are better ways to interact. There is something called 'outside'.
paid for by Americans for Renewable Complaining and Sustainable Whining.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday January 02 2018, @07:38PM
Oh really? No garbage at all in emails? No wasted pointless posturing and feel-good nonsense?
Thexalon
Grand Poo-Bah, Loyal Order of Water Buffalo Lodge 35
123-456-7890
Fax: 493-555-2385
email.address.I.just.sent.this.from@waterbuffalolodge.info
1450 Grand Office Park Rd
Springfield, AN 12345
"I think that what really makes my days better is inspirational quotes commonly found in email signatures"
------------------------------
-- Sent from my iPhone
> I like email: no likes unlikes, etc.
>
> No garbage, no shite. I can make it long or short.
>
> I just couldn't take FB.
>
> Someday, maybe people will get smart, but it'll probably be shit that replaces it. Stupids gotta have stupid.
>
> AND, how many people on FB do you REALLY want to interact with?
>
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Disagree) by Wootery on Tuesday January 02 2018, @02:54PM (10 children)
Not quite that dramatic, but pretty much, yes. For most people, deleting Facebook would carry a considerable cost of inconvenience, missed social opportunities, etc.
It's not good enough to pretend it's trivial to move away from Facebook.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Gaaark on Tuesday January 02 2018, @05:12PM (7 children)
Except, people who DON'T use FB get by just fine!
It's like cell phones: we didn't have them as kids, but now you GOTTA HAVE ONE!!....ummmm...no you don't. You WANT one.
If people really want to include you in something, they'll include you. If they won't do it outside FB, they really don't want you there. Just tell them you are gone, that FB is shite. If they care, they will email you, or phone you or come to your house. Truly. My family knows I don't FB, so I get emails or phone calls... because they WANT me there. They like me-- NAY, they love me, so I get included.
People I don't care about? I don't get bothered by.
It's easy. Just do it.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday January 02 2018, @05:27PM
Absolutely agree.
I don't use FB.
I don't understand why people think FB needs to be treated so delicately. Just nuke it from orbit!
Paid for by Americans for Renewable Complaining and Sustainable Whining.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Wootery on Wednesday January 03 2018, @10:17AM (5 children)
You're just pretending that there's no value to Facebook. Again, that just isn't good enough when we're trying to have a real discussion about this stuff.
You can't always rely on someone being willing to reroute Facebook discussions to you via another channel.
If you're a 'semi-active' member of a club or social group, you're likely to miss out on various silly-but-fun group conversations, small events, or conceivably more important discussions (the which venue for our seminar? discussion, for instance).
You can argue for or against leaving Facebook, and you can argue how we might diminish our dependence on it, but if you just insist there's no cost in deleting your account, then you aren't tracking reality.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday January 03 2018, @03:33PM (4 children)
From your post below:
" Using it also often helps Facebook conduct surveillance on people who don't even use the service, like when someone uploads a picture with them in it without their permission.
Totally agree - that's a real faux pas, but very often people don't seem to get it. I'm often disappointed by polite society's failure to 'keep up' regarding what behaviours are deserving of scorn. (Sharing vacuous brain-dead clickbait is another example.)"
So, you don't like that EVERYONE is tracked EVEN THOSE WHO DO NOT WANT TO BE TRACKED, but that's okay, because friends are okay with things like that.
You say "but if you just insist there's no cost in deleting your account, then you aren't tracking reality.": i say if you insist that there is no cost in KEEPING your account, then you aren't tracking reality.
The cost of staying on fb is FAR too great in terms of privacy; privacy for yourself but even greater, privacy for others especially those who may not want fb knowing things about them.
The cost IS negligible: you delete it and maintain contact in less intrusive ways.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday January 03 2018, @03:49PM (3 children)
Do use quote tags, they're far more readable.
I don't like it, but it's not the end of the world as you seem to want to imply. As I said, the alternative really would cost me considerably.
If only Americans would stop paying ISPs for Internet connectivity, their obscene monopolies would soon collapse. But they don't, because of the considerable cost that being the only person offline, would bring. The sad fact is that boycotts rarely work.
As it happens, I am far more qualified than you are to judge what it would cost me. And no, the cost for me would not be negligible, and I'm not the only person for whom this is true.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday January 03 2018, @04:16PM (2 children)
So, you don't mind being tracked where you go, what you do, who you contact, where you meet up with them, addresses, names, birth dates, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc?
So you don't mind your contacts being tracked either? Even those who don't want fb to know the above info?
Give me your wallet, your social insurance number and birth certificate and the info above of your contacts as well. I'm sure the consequences of that will be negligible.
You don't understand: your friends may not know the consequences of fb knowing their info but YOU DO. Privacy IS important: why are you giving it away, and why are you giving your friends privacy away? Insidious things are happening in the world that you, being on this site, are aware of: don't be a rat. Be smart.
Oh, you wanted quotes:
Are you considering the cost to your friends? What if you share a picture that has someone in it that doesn't want to have their face on fb? You tag that photo and their privacy is partially gone.
Etc. Whatever. You won't listen even though you know consequences. Consequences to you, who cares: it's consequences to others i'd be considering.
I guess sheeple can't move off fb because their world revolves around it. Sad.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday January 03 2018, @04:28PM (1 child)
Didn't I just answer this question? Again: I don't like it, but it's not the end of the world as you seem to want to imply.
The difference being, of course, that Facebook haven't committed any crimes with the data they have on me. Not sure what point you're trying to make.
My friends and I are getting a valuable service in return. The privacy cost remains real, of course, but again the reason is that Facebook is an effective and an entrenched platform.
I generally don't upload things to Facebook.
Again, yes I agree that it's not always nice to tag someone, especially someone who hasn't even opted in to Facebook.
You seem really committed to failing to comprehend nuance. No, having a Facebook account doesn't mean my world revolves around it. That's pure silliness. I waste far more time here, than I do on Facebook.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday January 03 2018, @04:53PM
Okay.
Good luck.
Yet.
I guessed as a regular Soylentil that you'd be more aware of what is going on in the world. I seem to be wrong.
Hmmmm......
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Tuesday January 02 2018, @08:19PM (1 child)
It's not just trivial to move away from sites like Facebook, but the only smart move as well. Don't let yourself be used by a deeply unethical mass surveillance engine. Using it also often helps Facebook conduct surveillance on people who don't even use the service, like when someone uploads a picture with them in it without their permission. Oh, you'll miss some social opportunities? Just how shallow can you be where that even matters? There are far more important things at stake than mere social gatherings, like principles and privacy.
Then again, the average person cares about neither of those, which is why some refer to them as "sheeple". Some people complain about that term, but it is fitting.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday January 03 2018, @10:13AM
Totally agree - that's a real faux pas, but very often people don't seem to get it. I'm often disappointed by polite society's failure to 'keep up' regarding what behaviours are deserving of scorn. (Sharing vacuous brain-dead clickbait is another example.)
Oh, I don't know. Maybe I love my friends and my hobbies? I hardly see that I'm being 'shallow'.
I'm not saying you're wrong to be deeply troubled by Facebook's position in society. I'm saying it's not good enough to pretend that Just quit whining and delete your account is a reasonable position. It's not. It's dismissive to the point of absurdity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 02 2018, @04:55PM (5 children)
but his opinion is of value because he "uses the internet every day"! that makes him an expert, right?
hang on my totally non technical mom is skyping; she uses it every day! maybe i can get her opinion?
so hey uh wake me up when email makes a comeback. it was so easy to just get messages in my email program and not have to visit some website that shows ads.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 02 2018, @05:32PM (3 children)
You see advertising with your email? You don't pass yourself off as a techie, do you?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday January 02 2018, @10:53PM (2 children)
You never got an email that ended with "Do you Yahoo!?"? Yes, that was advertising in emails.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 02 2018, @11:14PM (1 child)
I can't really recall seeing that. Maybe years ago. It seems I remember that phrase, or question, but I can't actually remember seeing it. Certainly not in the past few years. Do people still Yahoo?
Probably, those emails that might contain that phrase go to my spam folder. Let me take a look.
OH MY GOD!! I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED! A SEARCH FOR THAT PHRASE FOUND AN EMAIL FROM MR. JAIME COPELAND!! I've gotta get to JFK ASAP!! I don't know how that went to spam, instead of my inbox!
Alright, more seriously, I didn't find that phrase in either my inbox, or spam. There are a total of about six dozen emails with return addresses at yahoo.com, and all of them turned up in the search. But that phrase isn't there.
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday January 03 2018, @02:30AM
I'm still subscribed to some egroups mailing lists. Egroups got bought out by Yahoo many years back. Looking at one from today, at the bottom where I don't usually scroll down to, I see this (First line is a link)
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday January 02 2018, @11:00PM
Not exactly an expert, be a sample end user. And, to be fair, the end users are the entire point of the internet. Experts aren't.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 02 2018, @05:31PM
I hate Facebook, but I still keep the account. My boss uses Facebook to communicate things, like snow days, and whatnot. Birthday parties. Potluck dinners. I logged in two days ago to wish the old bat a happy 99th birthday - I'll have my ears chewed off tonight when I get to work. And, my kids. They tend to post all the STUPID shit they do on facebook. Idiots. As much as I hate it, as nearly as I've come to deleting all of my info, and closing the account, I just can't quite do it. To many OTHER people who are important to me continue to use it. Of course, I don't post diddly to it. I read the info that I'm looking for, then close it again. Happy Birthday wishes are the first time I've posted in six, seven, maybe eight weeks.
Also - Facebook doesn't have my real name. They have probably deduced my surname, but I sure as hell didn't just give it to them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 03 2018, @01:33AM (1 child)
This ridiculous exaggeration is the kind of reasoning being used to make technology in general more hostile, particularly in the realm of licenses and the law used to back those licenses. It also helps to control people, especially since people are given essentially a choice whether to live in a civilized society or submit to the will of corporations like a second government. This will eventually lead - and is already there , in some cases - for these companies to be gatekeepers of infrastructure, communications, work, and even socialization in some cases.
Don't like Windows? Is someone putting a gun to your head?
Don't want to give your personal information? Is someone putting a gun to your head?
The phone OS's people actually use don't let you root them? Is someone putting a gun to your head?
All the computers sold today require agreement to a license before using them? Is someone putting a gun to your head?
And so on.
This sort of hyperbolic "reasoning" is a gross and unwarranted oversimplification, reeks of childish allegories that are used to push ridiculous concepts by a cliche and biased framework that glosses over almost all of the problem's actual difficulties, and shows a gross lack of understanding of the situation and/or an indifference to one's own freedoms. Although I think the idea behind Godwin's law is ridiculous, as the comparison alluded to is sometimes apt, this response is cut of the same cloth.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday January 03 2018, @02:29AM
Full quote is:
Are you saying that you HAVE to use FB? You HAVE to use twits? You have NO OTHER CHOICE? You have NO OTHER FUCKING CHOICE AT ALL???
You need to get a grip: unless someone is ACTUALLY HOLDING A GUN AGAINST YOUR HEAD, you absolutely do NOT have to use fb or twits. Really.
I especially like these:
1. The phone OS's people actually use don't let you root them? Is someone putting a gun to your head? (Buy an unlocked phone: it becomes a phone OS people (you) actually use)
2. All the computers sold today require agreement to a license before using them? Is someone putting a gun to your head? (Buy a computer pre-loaded with linux)
I guess there is no hope for some
drama queenssheeple.--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---