Have any of you seen "The Social Dilemma" movie on Netflix?

[sheryl]

We watched on our anniversary getaway and it's incredibly interesting, sad, concerning, etc.  

These people seem highly qualified to speak and while they were once execs working for major social platforms, they came to a realization of the negative consequences of the company's agenda and individual use of such platforms.  Hope I remembered this correctly.

It was an eye opener for me.  I'm not a sm addict but one mentioned email.  Yeah, I probably check that a bit.

If you've seen this documentary, what did you think of it?

 

[Familia]

Our ds is recommending that movie to us relentlessly, I need to watch.  He said it completely changed his view of social media/technology - which, considering he is anti-social media already, I think says a lot.  'Making us less human' is how he worded what he believed social platforms are doing to us.  He has become much less attached to his phone since he watched it, and is encouraging us to do the same.  He recommends using Duckduckgo as a search engine, not downloading apps unless absolutely necessary, and connecting with people more often in person.  Well, I am not sure how much I am willing to change - not a huge user IMO.  

 

Edited October 29, 2020 by Familia

[Liz CA]

We watched it and it has confirmed all the concerns I had when FB got started back when and of course now we have countless other SM options. Some people liken this forum to SM but I thinking the dynamics are a bit different but I suppose one could get an unhealthy attachment either way. SM has such profound impact on us as society that I always said if I were to get a doctorate in sociology, I would make this my dissertation topic.

[sheryl]

Yes, to both of you above.  It opened my eyes immensely.  My dh has always talked about the underworld to these platforms.   This documentary talked about the neuroscience (if you will), psychology, etc behind it.  The parameters used to maintain and increase influence of user to the platform is all rooted in $$$.  Money is the driving force.  I guess that makes us guinea pigs to propel the agenda of these corporate sm giants which will result in deepening their pockets.  

I don't mind sm but perhaps it's gotten out of control which is what I think these folks were saying.

If anyone watches this, the man at the end of the documentary referred to an alternate search engine to Google but I couldn't understand his accent.  Please lmk what it is if you hear it.   Thanks!

[popmom]

The most concerning for me was that no one knows what the truth is anymore. You ((think)) you do, but you're being manipulated at every click. I can't remember her name, but she said at one point, "They (Google, Youtube, etc) don't have a proxy for truth that's better than a click." That whole segment with her was impactful to me.

At the very end--I think while the credits were rolling--I can't remember what they asked the guy--probably what his fear was, and he said, "civil war". I did not think that was overstated.

Edited October 29, 2020 by popmom

[Guest]

Yes, there was a thread about this a bit ago and I watched it. Coincidentally, I had just before decided to take a prolonged break (with the possibility of permanence) from Facebook. I deleted my FB apps so I can only go on through my laptop, which is a deterrent. It also makes it somewhat difficult for me to post a photo, so that’s nice because I won’t post a picture unless I have gone to some effort. Keeps me from interacting with FB impulsively. Now that I have mostly been off FB for the past...not sure, one month, maybe six weeks? I find I am less and less interested in it.

I feel like *for me* (others can decide about their own usage), FB was constantly stirring up simmering anger in me surrounding the pandemic, the political forces involved in the world, and sometimes just some peson’s pet issue-de-jour. (Vaccines, masks, confederate flags, etc.) I am happier without FB. I might just let my account rot. 

[4kidlets4me]

2 hours ago, sheryl said:

Yes, to both of you above.  It opened my eyes immensely.  My dh has always talked about the underworld to these platforms.   This documentary talked about the neuroscience (if you will), psychology, etc behind it.  The parameters used to maintain and increase influence of user to the platform is all rooted in $$$.  Money is the driving force.  I guess that makes us guinea pigs to propel the agenda of these corporate sm giants which will result in deepening their pockets.  

I don't mind sm but perhaps it's gotten out of control which is what I think these folks were saying.

If anyone watches this, the man at the end of the documentary referred to an alternate search engine to Google but I couldn't understand his accent.  Please lmk what it is if you hear it.   Thanks!

It's Qwant. I'm currently using it now instead of Google and I love it. It doesn't track your usage like Google. My laptop is a Mac and I found I had to download a whole new browser called Brave to get it but that was less of a hassle than I anticipated.

[sheryl]

28 minutes ago, 4kidlets4me said:

It's Qwant. I'm currently using it now instead of Google and I love it. It doesn't track your usage like Google. My laptop is a Mac and I found I had to download a whole new browser called Brave to get it but that was less of a hassle than I anticipated.

Thanks 4.......... 🙂  

Yes, dh and I watched it on our vacay last weekend and it sounded like a Q or Cu or something.  He said it doesn't track like Google.  Good, I'll check out Qwant!  Thanks so much!  We have pc's and Androids.  Hopefully this will work.  

[sheryl]

1 hour ago, kand said:

I’m not familiar with Qwant (I’ll have to look it up), but I use DuckDuckGo which doesn’t track. I have it on my phone as well. 

Thanks for the recs on alternatives to Google.   Qwant and Duckduckgo.   I'll have to check in to that one as well!

[popmom]

This week's Economist's cover/feature is on this topic. They also had an article about the French teacher, Samuel Paty, that was recently beheaded after a vicious and calculated social media campaign against him by some parents. 

I took all social media apps off my phone over a year ago. I quit Twitter and Instagram. I do still check FB once a day but mainly for Marketplace.

[sheryl]

12 hours ago, popmom said:

This week's Economist's cover/feature is on this topic. They also had an article about the French teacher, Samuel Paty, that was recently beheaded after a vicious and calculated social media campaign against him by some parents. 

I took all social media apps off my phone over a year ago. I quit Twitter and Instagram. I do still check FB once a day but mainly for Marketplace.

Popmom,  I watch the news sparingly.  I heard a blip about the above case but don't know much about it.  Why was Samuel target by parents?  Who committed this act? 

I've always steered away from sm.  Although I have email which according to one of the movie's participants, is sm as well as this site and Nextdoor.  Hmm.  I have access to those on laptop only except mail which is also on phone.  My sister was making me feel like a square if I didn't have email on my phone.  I may take it off.  I can't see getting rid of email because (unfortunately) that is how much of the world operates.  I don't "need" this site (has been very informative and helpful in many ways) or ND.

[busymama7]

I haven't seen it because we don't have Netflix but I've read a bit.  I am(was) also a fan of Colin Kartchner and his message.  I am pondering about giving up Facebook, using a different browser and search engine etc.  But I get pretty much all my news from here 😂. I was preparing for the pandemic in early February I believe because of the thread here.  And it is how I learn about other things going on in the world.  Recently I needed to stay a few nights in a hotel and watched a bit of cable news.  I was not impressed.  I also don't want to browse around news sites looking for interesting and important articles.  What other options for news do people use for staying informed etc?

[popmom]

2 hours ago, sheryl said:

Popmom,  I watch the news sparingly.  I heard a blip about the above case but don't know much about it.  Why was Samuel target by parents?  Who committed this act? 

I've always steered away from sm.  Although I have email which according to one of the movie's participants, is sm as well as this site and Nextdoor.  Hmm.  I have access to those on laptop only except mail which is also on phone.  My sister was making me feel like a square if I didn't have email on my phone.  I may take it off.  I can't see getting rid of email because (unfortunately) that is how much of the world operates.  I don't "need" this site (has been very informative and helpful in many ways) or ND.

I doubt there was much coverage of it on TV.

"When it came to teaching free speech as part of the national curriculum, he liked to show his quatrieme class two caricatures from the magazine Charlie Hebdo which, in January 2015, had been attacked my murdering Islamists. He had done so for several years; this year it had the added edge, with the trial of the accomplices going on... Once his pupils had seen the drawings he would explain that French law protected them, as part of the liberty enshrined in the Republic. Then they would debate why and whether it should, not angrily--he insisted on that--but reasonably, carefully marshalling their arguments..." From The Economist, p.82, Oct 20-30, 2020.

Paty had Muslim students in the class--as he had for years. The discussion was always respectful, and there was no trouble up until this year. His administrators and higher ups all reviewed the controversy and determined that he had done nothing wrong. From what the article states he was by all accounts a very caring, engaged teacher--and very sensitive to his Muslim students. For some reason this year there was outrage from a few of the parents. They took to FB with their grievances (which prompted the school officials to conduct a full review I previously mentioned). 

He was 47, and had a 5 year old son.

Edited October 30, 2020 by popmom

[popmom]

2 hours ago, busymama7 said:

I haven't seen it because we don't have Netflix but I've read a bit.  I am(was) also a fan of Colin Kartchner and his message.  I am pondering about giving up Facebook, using a different browser and search engine etc.  But I get pretty much all my news from here 😂. I was preparing for the pandemic in early February I believe because of the thread here.  And it is how I learn about other things going on in the world.  Recently I needed to stay a few nights in a hotel and watched a bit of cable news.  I was not impressed.  I also don't want to browse around news sites looking for interesting and important articles.  What other options for news do people use for staying informed etc?

I subscribe to the WSJ and The Economist--also my local newspaper. My local paper is definitely biased to the left, but I can usually sort out what is true vs propaganda by doing my own fact checking. So I might do a search online for a certain news story to see how other news outlets report on it. Then I sometimes go further--as close to a primary source as I can get. I also research the writers/journalists. I just don't trust most media outlets anymore. 

Edited October 30, 2020 by popmom

[Tina]

My phone has been in the shop for several weeks, so FB has been my only connection with most folks-- don't have memorized phone numbers anymore.  Timing was bad, but a way to connect with others at church right now was paramount.  For the most part, happy not to be so addicted to the phone!

We've discussed this with our kids and agree that communication IRL is much harder for younger people due to social media. 

Edited October 30, 2020 by Tina

[sheryl]

4 hours ago, busymama7 said:

I haven't seen it because we don't have Netflix but I've read a bit.  I am(was) also a fan of Colin Kartchner and his message.  I am pondering about giving up Facebook, using a different browser and search engine etc.  But I get pretty much all my news from here 😂. I was preparing for the pandemic in early February I believe because of the thread here.  And it is how I learn about other things going on in the world.  Recently I needed to stay a few nights in a hotel and watched a bit of cable news.  I was not impressed.  I also don't want to browse around news sites looking for interesting and important articles.  What other options for news do people use for staying informed etc?

Excellent question!  I'd like to know too! There is a response below but that is deserving of a separate thread.  Care to start one?  🙂
My sister sent me a link re: Netflix that seemed controversial but I can't find the link.

2 hours ago, popmom said:

I doubt there was much coverage of it on TV.

"When it came to teaching free speech as part of the national curriculum, he liked to show his quatrieme class two caricatures from the magazine Charlie Hebdo which, in January 2015, had been attacked my murdering Islamists. He had done so for several years; this year it had the added edge, with the trial of the accomplices going on... Once his pupils had seen the drawings he would explain that French law protected them, as part of the liberty enshrined in the Republic. Then they would debate why and whether it should, not angrily--he insisted on that--but reasonably, carefully marshalling their arguments..." From The Economist, p.82, Oct 20-30, 2020.

Paty had Muslim students in the class--as he had for years. The discussion was always respectful, and there was no trouble up until this year. His administrators and higher ups all reviewed the controversy and determined that he had done nothing wrong. From what the article states he was by all accounts a very caring, engaged teacher--and very sensitive to his Muslim students. For some reason this year there was outrage from a few of the parents. They took to FB with their grievances (which prompted the school officials to conduct a full review I previously mentioned). 

He was 47, and had a 5 year old son.

Well, that's sad.  Shoot, it seems like he respected his students equally whether he agreed with them or not.  What a tragedy!

[sheryl]

2 hours ago, popmom said:

I subscribe to the WSJ and The Economist--also my local newspaper. My local paper is definitely biased to the left, but I can usually sort out what is true vs propaganda by doing my own fact checking. So I might do a search online for a certain news story to see how other news outlets report on it. Then I sometimes go further--as close to a primary source as I can get. I also research the writers/journalists. I just don't trust most media outlets anymore. 

Back to the newspaper.  I like it.  I like your strategy for searching "specific" news stories and researching journalists.  Thorough!  

2 hours ago, Tina said:

My phone has been in the shop for several weeks, so FB has been my only connection with most folks-- don't have memorized phone numbers anymore.  Timing was bad, but a way to connect with others at church right now was paramount.  For the most part, happy not to be so addicted to the phone!

We've discussed this with our kids and agree that communication IRL is much harder for younger people due to social media. 

Right!

[Guest]

5 hours ago, busymama7 said:

I haven't seen it because we don't have Netflix but I've read a bit.  I am(was) also a fan of Colin Kartchner and his message.  I am pondering about giving up Facebook, using a different browser and search engine etc.  But I get pretty much all my news from here 😂. I was preparing for the pandemic in early February I believe because of the thread here.  And it is how I learn about other things going on in the world.  Recently I needed to stay a few nights in a hotel and watched a bit of cable news.  I was not impressed.  I also don't want to browse around news sites looking for interesting and important articles.  What other options for news do people use for staying informed etc?

I agree about staying informed through the hive. I watch very little TV news. I catch Bloomberg radio in the car. (It’s more financial news and, though left-leaning, it’s not much opinion.) I read The Economist and The Guardian. I really love The Economist best. I also read The Atlantic but I freely admit that has unabashed left bias. I get emails from The Daily Skimm (to the left, but not extremely) and The Flip Side, which covers some issue and says how it is perceived by the right, the left, and sometimes by Libertarians.

I subscribe to all these things but this does not mean I comprehensively read all of these every day. I decided to get paid subscriptions to these sources, though, because I believe we (society) must support good journalism. If I depend only on whatever trash “news” I can get for free (like stuff shared on SM, say), it takes a ton more time trying to vet or verify the stories. So a few months ago, I decided to subscribe to a few paid subscriptions so I would be less vulnerable to all the nonsense out there. 

>end soapbox

 

[kbutton]

I subscribed to The Dispatch. It's conservative, but it's not sympathetic to the chief executive. They have a free column that I signed up for and then subscribed to the rest later. They also host a couple of related podcasts.

[popmom]

@Quill I'm the same--I can't even read The Economist cover to cover much less the WSJ--(which is kinda sad if you remember what The Economist used to be like). And I don't have time to fact check everything, so I focus on the more controversial claims/news--especially pertaining to the election.

It sincerely frightens me that most people get their news from social media or a cable channel. I mean--I'll tune in to CNN and Fox occasionally just to see what they are saying (there are a few good apples in the bunch), but goodness it's so, so bad now. The things that they FAIL to report is at least as concerning as the biased garbage they DO report. 

[popmom]

I'm going to add a website I go to a lot to research issues--Brookings.

While I don't subscribe to National Review, I do read their articles a good bit because pretty much everything else that I read is left leaning.

Edited October 30, 2020 by popmom

[HeartString]

What does it mean to get ones news from Facebook?  I follow NPR, the NY Times and a few other news sites on Facebook, but that doesn't seem like what most people are talking about when they say they get their news from Facebook.  I follow a few pages that lean to one side, but I know they are opinion pages and think of them that way, they mostly just share links to NY Times or NPR articles with some commentary written in the post. 

It feels weird, but I honestly get most of my news from podcasts now.  My first source of news every day is Up First by NPR, 15 minutes on the important news of the day.  Then I have a other newsy podcasts, then several podcasts that are more news opinions.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Cnew02 said:

What does it mean to get ones news from Facebook?  I follow NPR, the NY Times and a few other news sites on Facebook, but that doesn't seem like what most people are talking about when they say they get their news from Facebook.  I follow a few pages that lean to one side, but I know they are opinion pages and think of them that way, they mostly just share links to NY Times or NPR articles with some commentary written in the post. 

It feels weird, but I honestly get most of my news from podcasts now.  My first source of news every day is Up First by NPR, 15 minutes on the important news of the day.  Then I have a other newsy podcasts, then several podcasts that are more news opinions.

I think there could be two different meanings. 

1) Someone could say, “I get my news from Facebook” and that means they scroll through their feed every day and like or comment on articles shared by friends and that guy that sat next to them in homeroom in elementary school. 🙄 I *do* actually know people who think this is “getting the news.” Sadly. 

2) Someone could say the same thing and mean they regularly look at news pages on FB. This might have the same pitfalls as TV news, though, because you might be just hearing on biased POV and interacting with the pages tells the algorithms to give you more of the same, as it demonstrates in the Netflix show. I suppose it is possible that someone is using the platform of FB to read news from sites they would read from anyway, and it may be that they look at a varied news offerings, so they may be using FB news in an intelligent way. I wouldn’t hold my breath, though. 

[HeartString]

6 minutes ago, Quill said:

I think there could be two different meanings. 

1) Someone could say, “I get my news from Facebook” and that means they scroll through their feed every day and like or comment on articles shared by friends and that guy that sat next to them in homeroom in elementary school. 🙄 I *do* actually know people who think this is “getting the news.” Sadly. 

2) Someone could say the same thing and mean they regularly look at news pages on FB. This might have the same pitfalls as TV news, though, because you might be just hearing on biased POV and interacting with the pages tells the algorithms to give you more of the same, as it demonstrates in the Netflix show. I suppose it is possible that someone is using the platform of FB to read news from sites they would read from anyway, and it may be that they look at a varied news offerings, so they may be using FB news in an intelligent way. I wouldn’t hold my breath, though. 

#2 there is pretty much how I use it.  I can't afford subscriptions to all of the newspapers and magazines that I want so I use all of the free articles that they give out.  Facebook is easier than going to each individual website the way I used to when I sat at my desktop daily.  Looking at the chart up there I tend to hang out in that green box.  I read stuff from all of those places on a regular basis, mostly based on what Facebook serves up. I do follow opinion pages, but I know that's what they are.  

I do need to branch out and follow a few more moderate voices on the other side.  After the election. 

I can see a lot of people just doing what you listed on number 1 though.  I guess people really are getting their news from memes.  I don't even know what to say about that. 

[Guest]

One thing I find interesting on the chart above is the variation between web-based vs. tv news on the same outlet. I’m sort of wondering how that came to be so. I guess because TV is meant to be more sensationalized? More entertaining? So it strays farther from factual reporting than the web news from the same corporation. It’s interesting. 

[HeartString]

28 minutes ago, Quill said:

One thing I find interesting on the chart above is the variation between web-based vs. tv news on the same outlet. I’m sort of wondering how that came to be so. I guess because TV is meant to be more sensationalized? More entertaining? So it strays farther from factual reporting than the web news from the same corporation. It’s interesting. 

Along those same lines, I find a really interesting divide between the News side and the Opinion Side of most organizations.  I think the sharpest divide is probably with Fox News, where the News side is ok but the opinion/entertainment side is not.  They even went to court saying that their average viewer knows better than to listen to Tucker Carlson, which is...really something.  I see a divide in the NY Times as well.  The news is pretty even and factual, while the Opinion page is very liberal.  There's been a lot of chatter in the past few weeks about the News side and Opinion side of the Times having contradicted each other over a couple of stories recently.

We don't have regular tv at all so I never watch TV news coverage, but I watched some clips on you tube about the election recently that made me realize just how terrible the TV coverage is. That stuff will rot your brain!  And I was watching clips from news organizations that are on my "side".  Even if we kill social media completely, the stuff on TV is pretty toxic too. 

Edited October 31, 2020 by Cnew02
chattiness

[TravelingChris]

I love social media- that is Facebook and Twitter.  Facebook connects me with people who have similar interests-National Parks, plant identification, current and past Law Enforcement, Bird Identification, Local history, local lost pets, and many health communities-- I have a very complex medical situation and really both rely on the communities for info, support and for me to be able to help many people too.  It also connects me with my friends, who are not at all like me in many cases- neither politically, nor economically, nor racially.  I get funnies too forwarded by one friend in particular (who also forwards lots of interesting science, tech and local interest stuff), plus my dh and dds who all subscribe to funnies from some people.  I watch my city channel on Facebook.  Does Facebook market to me?  Sure- I get lots of ads for political donations and have been since August, in particular.  Usually, I get lots of ads for stuff for much older people- Medicare plans, sometime wealth management (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha- Twitter, Facebook, and the mail does this and it is so not for us) or ads for medications-usually for conditions I do not have but sometimes even for a med I already take.

Twitter I get lots of my other news except when both Twitter and Facebook are deliberately blocking an extremely important story of corruption- and so is NPR too.  I will like the issue from a left leaning journalist -https://greenwald.substack.com/p/article-on-joe-and-hunter-biden-censored

Does Facebook, Twitter, etc need reform- yes.  Should there be alternatives- sure, if somehow they are funded- Duckduckgo is by Amazon and Ebay (And Amazon sure does track, I hardly ever buy or go on ebay so have no experiences there

 

[popmom]

21 hours ago, kand said:

Thanks for sharing Brookings. I wasn’t familiar with them, and they get the highest of factual ratings and are just left of center. National Review is rated way right and low on the factual scale. I use a couple different sites to check media bias (mediabiasfactcheck is another), but this chart is a good quick check for many of the most popular:

Where is this chart from? Who are the people making this determination? I'd like to look into that further. I disagree with some of this. I think charts like this may be too simplistic because they don't separate news reporting from analysis/opinion. I subscribed to the NYTs for awhile, and I canceled it because there was no news to be found! It was ALL analysis and opinion. Of course I wasn't getting the print edition, so I was at the mercy of what was in my face on the website or my inbox. I would definitely describe it as hyper partisan left. I know good and well that National Review is hard right, but I'm a conservative. I read it for analysis. I get my news ( as opposed to analysis) from many other sources. I have found that watching/reading news from both hard left and hard right leaning sources--you find out how much they are able to push an agenda by what they choose not to cover or report. I think it's important to take both sides into consideration. Otherwise there is no way you are getting even close to a whole picture. So I maybe watch a talking head 3 or 4 times a month; but when I do watch, I watch Cuomo and Lemon AND Carlson and The Five or something along those lines. 

Edited October 31, 2020 by popmom

[sheryl]

21 hours ago, Quill said:

I think there could be two different meanings. 

1) Someone could say, “I get my news from Facebook” and that means they scroll through their feed every day and like or comment on articles shared by friends and that guy that sat next to them in homeroom in elementary school. 🙄 I *do* actually know people who think this is “getting the news.” Sadly. 

2) Someone could say the same thing and mean they regularly look at news pages on FB. This might have the same pitfalls as TV news, though, because you might be just hearing on biased POV and interacting with the pages tells the algorithms to give you more of the same, as it demonstrates in the Netflix show. I suppose it is possible that someone is using the platform of FB to read news from sites they would read from anyway, and it may be that they look at a varied news offerings, so they may be using FB news in an intelligent way. I wouldn’t hold my breath, though. 

Good, Quill!

[sheryl]

20 hours ago, Quill said:

One thing I find interesting on the chart above is the variation between web-based vs. tv news on the same outlet. I’m sort of wondering how that came to be so. I guess because TV is meant to be more sensationalized? More entertaining? So it strays farther from factual reporting than the web news from the same corporation. It’s interesting. 

Quill, that statement is correct!  You're referring to news and not tv "shows".   My husband earned a degree in Communications in 1979  (dating myself here as we dated in college!) with an emphasis on what was "then" called Radio/TV from our alma mater in my native state of Ohio.  So, 40 +years ago he studied his major.  When he watches the news he's disgusted at how biased it is AND how (crudely) entertaining it is.   All 3 major networks "air" a short segment and off to commercial.  There are regulations how many minutes of commercials air within the newscast.  I rarely watch tv or the news (I do but not often) as 15-20 years ago one of the local stations aired negative story one right after another.  It seemed like a dozen but I don't recall what it actually was. Still, it had to be a significant number for me to react in that way!  But, it's not very news centered to air a segment 30 seconds and break for commercial and back and forth and back and forth.  He goes on to say that "that story was not even "news"; it doesn't qualify b/c of"  such and thus.  The segments are shorter now b/c we live in a fast-paced society.  That is not always a good thing!  So, yes, the media entertains and sensationalizes.  If you miss the news you can catch it on Deborah Norville's show.  What's it called?  Also, media are the gatekeepers.  They "choose" what they want to air aka what they want you (society) to see/hear and don't air aka what they do NOT want you to see/hear!

20 hours ago, Cnew02 said:

Along those same lines, I find a really interesting divide between the News side and the Opinion Side of most organizations.  I think the sharpest divide is probably with Fox News, where the News side is ok but the opinion/entertainment side is not.  They even went to court saying that their average viewer knows better than to listen to Tucker Carlson, which is...really something.  I see a divide in the NY Times as well.  The news is pretty even and factual, while the Opinion page is very liberal.  There's been a lot of chatter in the past few weeks about the News side and Opinion side of the Times having contradicted each other over a couple of stories recently.

We don't have regular tv at all so I never watch TV news coverage, but I watched some clips on you tube about the election recently that made me realize just how terrible the TV coverage is. That stuff will rot your brain!  And I was watching clips from news organizations that are on my "side".  Even if we kill social media completely, the stuff on TV is pretty toxic too. 

 Yes!

[sheryl]

14 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

I love social media- that is Facebook and Twitter.  Facebook connects me with people who have similar interests-National Parks, plant identification, current and past Law Enforcement, Bird Identification, Local history, local lost pets, and many health communities-- I have a very complex medical situation and really both rely on the communities for info, support and for me to be able to help many people too.  It also connects me with my friends, who are not at all like me in many cases- neither politically, nor economically, nor racially.  I get funnies too forwarded by one friend in particular (who also forwards lots of interesting science, tech and local interest stuff), plus my dh and dds who all subscribe to funnies from some people.  I watch my city channel on Facebook.  Does Facebook market to me?  Sure- I get lots of ads for political donations and have been since August, in particular.  Usually, I get lots of ads for stuff for much older people- Medicare plans, sometime wealth management (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha- Twitter, Facebook, and the mail does this and it is so not for us) or ads for medications-usually for conditions I do not have but sometimes even for a med I already take.

Twitter I get lots of my other news except when both Twitter and Facebook are deliberately blocking an extremely important story of corruption- and so is NPR too.  I will like the issue from a left leaning journalist -https://greenwald.substack.com/p/article-on-joe-and-hunter-biden-censored

Does Facebook, Twitter, etc need reform- yes.  Should there be alternatives- sure, if somehow they are funded- Duckduckgo is by Amazon and Ebay (And Amazon sure does track, I hardly ever buy or go on ebay so have no experiences there

 

Well, Chris, you can "love" your sm but I was shocked to look at the dark world behind these platforms.  If you haven't watched, you might consider it.  

[sheryl]

23 minutes ago, Happymomof1 said:

It truly does stink. And I'm staying away from Facebook, but with no human contact. This is my only choice. All my friends, my entire community is out at Halloween Festivities that are all going on as normal, with at least hundreds and maybe thousands of people if it is like normal.  But with Covid, if you take precautions then social media and ZOOM are what you are stuck with.

Well, you know you will be sheltered.  See, the more fish in the ocean, the more crowded it is.  A few people wouldn't be a concern but many people would pose a threat.

[popmom]

After much deliberation, I permanently deleted my Twitter and Facebook accounts several days ago. It was a difficult decision--mainly because of all of the positives @TravelingChrismentioned. Still, the cons far outweighed the pros for me.

 I plan to go back to using forums more. So for travel interests I will use the Tripadvisor  or Fodor's forum. Houzz for home improvement and gardening. The Dyrt for camping. It always bothered me anyway that some of my FB interest groups were public--especially the travel groups. It is shocking how many people have no problem announcing their travel dates and budget for all the world to see. 

I already feel better mentally. I'm serious. And you know what? (I predicted this--not a surprise) No one has even noticed that I'm gone. 

FYI, If you are also considering a permanent deletion (as opposed to deactivation), Facebook gives you the option of downloading all of your FB content to a file on your computer, so you don't lose anything.

Edited November 12, 2020 by popmom

[stephanier.1765]

I'm only halfway through but I'm horrified already. FB and here are my only real social interactions online. FB is my primary source to pictures and information about my grandchildren, so I'm kinda stuck with it. I also enjoy the crafting groups I'm on and being inspired by what others create but now I can only imagine the profile FB must be building of me. Ick! Just thinking about it makes me feel dirty and I'm just about as much of a boring online presence as anyone can get.