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

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

SFamericano

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

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

Jan-Theo Wassink

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

@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.

Scott M. Stolz

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

@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.