With Reddit just announcing ai mods for sub reddits I think it’s finally time I fully give it up. I’ve been slowly trying to transition back into the fediverse but damn is it hard sometimes. Listen I have left leaning politics but does every other post have to be about some political shit on the all tab, I feel like I’m forced into this box that is my subscribed feed or I have to actively search out new communities because all is just a political circle jerk that I don’t care about. Not to mention the moment I came back I saw a fucking flow chart on the instances drama of the week. If I wasn’t so dedicated to dropping Reddit I think the average Joe would have left by now seeing all of this. And YES I have been trying to be the change I want to see if you check my profile I regularly post in meme subs non political just funny memes to be like “lmao” and people can move about their day. I’m not saying there ISNT other type of content on lemmy or piefed it just feels like the stuff that floats to the top is political
I do enjoy tiktok, although the longer it exists (and the longer it’s under American control) the more I feel the negative effects of “the algorithm” in that it’s not just building an echo chamber by accident but it’s intentionally showing me or not showing me things for their own gain.
I want an algorithm, but I don’t want an Algorithm ™
I hope piefed takes off because I like it. But still maybe it’s for the best that I use it as an excuse to disconnect completely from social media
It’s dangerous for sure - both collectively (e.g. it has been demonstrated how they can map out military bases and movements following the patterns of when either the or even the surrounding people login, or perhaps do not log in during certain periods of time), and in a sense perhaps individually for people (this is probably most people) who are susceptible to additive behaviors. Although ofc forewarned forearmed and all of that, so just like any source of positive reinforcement (alcohol, drugs, gaming, even unquestionably “healthy” activities such as exercise and working), it needs to be used appropriately i.e. kept in check. “The unexamined life is not worth living”, and all that.
I should note that it was not America that made TikTok that way - at least not directly. That company has always done those activities. Capitalism always sells not what people want but what the company desires to sell them. If we want different - e.g. Loops or like PeetTube and Pixelfed and such - then we have to build it. The code is not simply going to spill out of a random generator and then email itself to us:-) - it requires a staggeringly enormous amount of effort.
And that is the problem. I, like you and most of us here, want an algorithm that isn’t Their Algorithm, but what we end up with instead still ends up being a form of Algorithm, just fueled by upvotes (vulnerable to disinformation) rather than monetary gain.
And we should all disconnect - I would argue not entirely, but stepping back a bit may do us all a world of good. Spend most time with people irl, spend only a little learning here, and don’t neglect other sources that are significantly better as primary or secondary or even tertiary means of getting information. Other than Reddit though, which is where the content creators are, I am not sure more specifically what that may look like but now I know the task ahead of me: to find that.