They showed us a way to connect with others, widen friendships, find others in similar or different communities, and stay on top of life events and milestones. Then, they stripped it all away, stuffed everything with algorithmic sludge designed to push engagement metrics higher, and left us scrolling like the dopamine addicts we are.
With or without social media, I have things to say, wisdom to share, and plenty to teach! But how do I disentangle all that from the problems I see with the influencer-slash-content-creator business model?
I can't think of a single positive change to a social media platform in years. Nothing has been done with user value in mind; every change is only made to satisfy shareholders. They've killed link sharing. They've killed the ability to see updates from your friends and family. They've killed reach for creators. They've killed news and trustworthy... See more
Many things in modernity are brain dead, but I can’t think of anything worse than the short form dystopias of TikTok and Instagram. They’re materially making people dumber, breeding addict behavior (particularly in the young) and ultimately ruining the lives of normies. It’s depressing to think about the countless kids who might have started garage... See more
Since a platform is in control of what content gets served to who and when, there’s no expectation that a creator’s social network is guaranteed to see their content. Therefore, platforms can also choose what not to program, and there’s little creators can do or say to counteract this. Long gone are the days where a creator can complain about being... See more