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Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:13:05 -0500 last edited: Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:15:16 -0500

atomicpoet@mastodon.social

People blame social media for society’s ills. But media is media. It is no more blameworthy than a pencil is for what it writes.

The real problem is who uses—and makes!—social media, how they do it, and why.

Thus, blame social *networks*.

show all 18 Comments

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:20:43 -0500

Christopher Stewart

poligraf@mastodon.online

@atomicpoet

good point... but still, blaming doesn't accomplish much...

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:22:19 -0500

Chris Trottier

atomicpoet@mastodon.social

@poligraf Blame works if it’s a precursor to action.

Twitter should be blamed for allowing neo-Nazis back on their network.

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:23:20 -0500

Paul Schoe

paulschoe@mastodon.world

@atomicpoet I disagree that 'social media are no more blameworthy than a pencil is for what it writes.'

That might be the case with a medium like Mastodon that strictly shows every entry in the sequence of its posting, but with their algorithms, social media like Facebook and Twitter twist what we get to see by only showing us what according to them 'is what we want' and by doing that, they give us a distorted view or reality and they are to blame for that.

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:24:36 -0500

Chris Trottier

atomicpoet@mastodon.social

@paulschoe Who writes the algorithm?

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:25:10 -0500

Paul Schoe

paulschoe@mastodon.world

@atomicpoet The people who are employed by the social media.

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:25:28 -0500

Imdat :v_enby: :v_trans:

imdat@tech.lgbt

@atomicpoet No, people mistake technology (and other too,s) for culture.

It is not the technology or the other tools that are responsible for society’s ills. It is culture and culture exists only with the people; people create the culture and people *are* the culture. Whether your culture is conducive for benefiting the society or not… that is the question.

Your tools’ existence or non-existence has nothing to do with that!

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:30:22 -0500

Chris Trottier

atomicpoet@mastodon.social

@paulschoe Correct! As I said in the first post: The problem isn't just who uses, but also who MAKES, social media!

Code does not write itself.

It is written by humans with both biases and motivations.

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:31:39 -0500

Chris Trottier

atomicpoet@mastodon.social

@imdat I agree with everything you say, so let me be more clear.

Social *networks* are people.

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:35:16 -0500

Imdat :v_enby: :v_trans:

imdat@tech.lgbt

@atomicpoet 😂🙏

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:35:54 -0500

Paul Schoe

paulschoe@mastodon.world

@atomicpoet Semantics.

Saying Social Media are not blameworthy because Social media cannot write algorithms but those algorithms are written by employees who work for Social Media and therefore it is people who are to blame, not the Social media, is an approach that leads to saying that no company in the world can ever be blamed for what that company does or makes because it are ALWAYS their employees who do the work, not the company itself.
No sane person will find that a reasonable argument.

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:54:11 -0500

Chris Trottier

atomicpoet@mastodon.social

@paulschoe Not semantics.

People blame social media as though the software itself is self-aware.

Which is what Big Social would like you to think -- especially as it pushes the notion of A.I. even further.

The responsibility lies not just at the feet of those who use social media maliciously, but also those who code maliciously.

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 17:56:40 -0500

Paul Schoe

paulschoe@mastodon.world

@atomicpoet I agree with your last sentence: 'The responsibility lies also at the feet of those who code maliciously.'
But realize that they most often do that because of the demands of their employers the social media companies.

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 19:09:28 -0500

Christopher Stewart

poligraf@mastodon.online

@atomicpoet

agreed, action works indeed... blame isn't a requirement for action though...

and it seems blaming Twitter hasn't stopped any of the reinstating thus far...

i'd say suggesting actions would yield more satisfying results...

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 19:32:01 -0500

SunnySideUp

sbaker9014@c.im

@atomicpoet

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 21:19:36 -0500

Mr. Scott Aron John Reynolds

Scott1984FP@mastodon.social

@atomicpoet ,Its Why We Allow Corruption In Charge In First Place,

Yet The Powerful Often Deliberately Buy/Own/Invest In Media/Press/Radio/Social Media, Etc,

Thus Brainwashing Each New Generation & Sponsoring Toxic Right/Far Right CONservatism Governments, Oppositions, Political Parties, Countries, Societies, Politics, Dictatorships & Dicators, :(

Its Why They FEAR WWW, Independent News Online & Independent Social Media Too :(

Worst In #Uk & #USA ,As Most Media CONservatism :(

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 21:37:54 -0500

SFamericano

SFamericano@sfba.social

@atomicpoet : A similar argument is often made about guns whenever we debate gun control and gun law reforms.

Sat, 04 Feb 2023 04:27:39 -0500

Jan-Theo Wassink

jantheowassink@chaos.social

@atomicpoet Or ?better? still: blame the exploiters (if that's -yet- a word in EN). The network is us, the people. Big Social is exploiting our network for profit.

Sat, 04 Feb 2023 04:54:29 -0500

Scott M. Stolz

scott@biztechtonics.net

@Chris Trottier One thing that people forget is that people talked to other people before there was social media. And many of them had opinions you may not like. They were still social, but they gathered in person, or called each other, or emailed each other, or had their own online discussion boards.

People were always social... the only difference now is that it is easier to come in contact with people who have different ideas.

We still have the same fundamental problem though. Instead of talking to people in a way that inspires positive change and talking about solutions, many people mimic the same toxic behaviors as their abusers, and justify it because they are the enemy. Unfortunately, that just perpetuates toxicity, and does not solve the actual problems.

We still have people and we still have abusers and we still have competing world views... it's just that many of those people have gotten louder.