Submitted 1 day ago by technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com to technology@lemmy.world
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/02/13/1847236/the-eu-moves-to-kill-infinite-scrolling
After successfully recuperating tiktok, politicians are going to once again exploit pseudo-science to outlaw the “infinite scroll.” Get ready for the comeback of the pager. Thanks libs!
Infinite scroll amplifies the “I’m never going to find that again” problem. That’s the thing I hate most about it.
i personally have pushed back on every “infinite scrolling” feature request from product designers. first, you think you need it; you don’t. second, you think it’s just so nifty! it isn’t. oh it your content is dynamically generated? what was wrong with Reddit’s pager that launched that site into popularity?
it’s unnecessary complexity that hides information from the user, makes API calls (which are, spoilers, paginated) more complicated, can cause the obvious memory/resource consumption issues, and just generally disempowers the user. which i guess on a social media app is the point. but totally counter to the goals of a fleet management system lol
Sometimes it can be handy to be able to load all the data into one page by middle clicking and moving the mouse to the bottom of the screen, waiting for a bit, then saving the html.
Used that and some regex to export my list of musicians I like from Spotify and import them into tidalrr.
Thank you. Infinite pagers are such poor usability, just all around annoying. I really don’t understand why people want them unless it’s developers saying “this is cool”
What pseudo-science is being exploited?
Why claim “pseudoscience” when real world studies, as well as internal documents of the companies themselves, show that these platforms are addictive? Studies also show that kids want to, but can’t, spend less time on these addictive platforms.
“Just because it’s a massively funded design objective with extensively tested results doesn’t make it a thing!!”
I don’t know man, I’m not a fan of infinite scroll
LET’S GOOOO
I don’t like infinite scroll.
Voyager (lemmy) has paged scroll and it let’s me.know when I’ve wasted enough time.
Unlike say, Instagram…
Where is the paged scroll setting?
Brussels has told the company to change several key features, including disabling infinite scrolling, setting strict screen time breaks and changing its recommender systems.
I’m not really a rabid fan of infinite scrolling myself, but setting aside the question of whether the state should regulate this sort of thing, in all seriousness, it seems like it should be client-side. Like, we have prefers-color-scheme in CSS at the browser/OS level to ask all websites to use dark mode or light mode. If you want to disable infinite scrolling on websites, presumably you want to do so globally and can send that bit (and if you want it on a per-site basis, the browser could have support for a toggle).
And if you want screen time breaks, there’s existing browser-level and OS-level functionality for that.
We are well past the point where the client decides how hypertext looks. You are talking about feed readers.
I mean that the setting should be client-side. With prefers-color-scheme, it’s a hint to the website’s CSS design as to what theme to use.
Is this only for TikTok or is it going to lead to worse Fediverse software? Because all infinite scrolling does is remove to annoyance of hitting next page, it’s a great QoL feature.
Because all infinite scrolling does is remove to annoyance of hitting next page
That is definitely not all it does.
That certainly is all it does. Infinite scrolling simply loads more data when you reach the bottom of the page. It’s used in place of buttons to load that content.
You’re probably thinking of some algorithm that provides never ending stream of content.
Right? Imagine if you were to come into the comments and there are 50 comments but you can only read them 10 at a time.
Wow, I am so much less addicted now and it didn’t even require an adult to take an interest in my life or spend some time on me! - teenagers probably
I think they mean algorithmic feeds that no human could ever reach the end of; like TikTok, but all the big social media platforms have similar features nowadays.
Anything else would be stupid but who knows what politicians think
I’m surprised Slashdot still exists.
I miss the cmdrtaco days of /. lol.
I don’t remember what I was downloading the other day, but I ended up on SourceForge. I forgot that existed too. Don’t visit without an ad blocker though.
Moral panic slop that will just make the problem worse.
Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Misleading headline, it’s only one of multiple “addictive features” they’re considering banning to make social media less addictive.
BlackPenguins@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Dammit EU. Do I like you or hate you. Pick a lane.