Mar 31, 2024
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stong agree but it also begs the question of whether we have to keep the bathwater with the baby; if the thing we like about social media is that we can keep in touch with people easily does that mean we also have to accept all of the stuff that sucks super hard about it? if it's "hard for us to use it well" doesn't that just mean by definition it's poorly designed and something better should come along
alaiyo
the question is: do we need "something better than social media," or "a social medium that is better?" Can we improve our existing social media, or make similar alternatives that play against addictive elements, or do we need something fundamentally different to escape those elements?
I've had a relatively good time on Discord. I like it.
But... when I post an outfit to discord, I still find myself going into each community and asking "hey, are people reacting to it? am I getting a lot of the fire emoji, or what?" Our inherent neediness doesn't always pair well with the instant nature of the internet. I know too many people who expect an instant response to their text messages...
danhakimi i guess it's a chicken / egg situation of "were we this needy before we had instant gratification, or did instant gratification make us this needy"
i think we need something fundamentally different simply because the point of social media is to extract as much time and attention as possible, and the value end users get from it is almost by accident / a happy coincidence (like i said in my rec, tumblr was the most usable social media platform and it was famously unprofitable; this feels... connected)
we have been conditioned for a decade to seek not only instant gratification but also numerical validation ("how many likes? reacts? retweets?") so that we stay on these platforms to monetize us - just as we have been conditioned we can be de-conditioned we just need platforms that exist to connect us, not advertise to us
alaiyo would tumblr have been more profitable if instagram never existed?
also, side note, pet peeve of mine "begs the question" does not mean "really makes you wonder," it's a logical fallacy that's a lot like circular logic.
I was just thinking about the immensely positive power of a DM. From creative projects to romantic partnerships, “sliding”
knows no bounds and I Iove this almost infinite possibility when used right.
