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Comment on Study: Social media probably can’t be fixed

“Fixing” social media is like “fixing” capitalism. Any manmade system can be changed, destroyed, or rebuilt. It’s not an impossible task but will require a fundamental shift in the way we see/talk to/value each other as people.

The one thing I know for sure is that social media won’t ever improve if we all accept the narrative that it can’t be improved.

We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.

-Ursula K Le Guin

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harribert@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Seriously, read her books. I looooove „The Dispossessed“

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- floofloof@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  The Left Hand of Darkness is excellent too.
  
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- kalkulat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  LeGuin is a treasure.
  
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BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Particularly apt given that may of the biggest problems with social media are problems of capitalism. Social media platforms have found it most profitable to monetize conflict and division, the low self-esteem of teenagers, lies and misinformation, envy over the curated simulacrum of a life presented by a parasocial figure.

These things drive engagement. Engagement drives clicks. Clicks drive ad revenue. Revenue pleases shareholders. And all that feeds back into a system that trades negativity in the real world for positivity on a balance sheet.

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masterspace@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Yeah, this author is the pop sci author on Ars Technica, not the actual science coverage one, and you can tell by the overly broad, click bait, headline that is not actually supported by the research at hand.

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TAG@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
If you read the article, the argument they are making is that you cannot fix social media by simply tweaking the algorithm. We need a new form of social media that is not just everyone screaming into the void for attention, which includes Lemmy, Mastodon, and other Fediverse platforms.

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balder1991@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
This is spot on.

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