Very good point! He’ll be in a reasonably good place when YouTube goes to shit.

First of all, thank you for the fantastic feedback.

We live in a society that commodifies everything, and as human-made content becomes rarer, more people like Veritsaium will be presented with more and increasingly lucrative opportunities to sell bits and pieces of their authenticity for manufactured content (be it by AI or a marketing team), while new people that could be like Veritsaium will be drowned out by the heaps of bullshit clogging up the web.

This is exactly the point I was trying to make in the last section, except I used MrBeast as an example because I felt like it was easier for readers to accept his propensity for cutting corners to make a buck. But yes, I agree, things will get worse. Before it was common knowledge that cigarettes caused cancer, a whole lot of people had to get cancer.

I also think it’s important to remember that people don’t actually follow Veritasium directly. They follow him indirectly by means of YouTube. If people could actually follow him directly he wouldn’t need to worry about competing with AI crap for the attention of YouTube’s algorithm. But of course, YouTube would never allow that.

Exactly! I actually talked back and forth with him a bit and eventually said that “complaining about a missing FOSS feature is like complaining to the volunteer ladeler at a soup kitchen about the lack of a gluten-free option. It’s just not the path to getting the change you want.”

In the end he seemed to get what I was saying, but was still irritated. I’ve been really learning lately how hard it is for some people not to see themselves as customers in FOSS land.

I personally wouldn’t judge any Yankees fan living in Boston who chooses to remain closeted about their allegiances and only discusses sports online.

Absolutely. The essay does actually address that towards the end:

There’s no shame in turning to the internet for supplementing socialization when doing it “better” isn’t feasible. It’s easy to imagine situations where someone might not have access to a community that keeps them sane. A gay teenager stuck in rural Alabama. A woman born into a controlled religious society. A New York sports fan in Boston. Some days in life, the best we can hope for is making it until tomorrow in one piece.

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Now you’re catching on

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The example you mention is actually in the essay itself. But yes, it would be nice if the technology companies could work on a way to automate the stuff we don’t enjoy doing instead of the stuff that brings meaning into our lives.

I fear for the soul of the person who read this and thought “yup this is all normal ways to feel”

You can just click “no thanks” to the subscription box, but I’ve copy-pasted the full guide (short version) here for you:

1. Download the Mastodon app from the Apple app store or Play store.

2. Create an account (just like Twitter or any other social media)

3. Follow people, and get posting.

Thanks lol

💯

The “mall” analogy works for Reddit because the point of it existing is to buy things there. Lemmy instances and communities only exist because people want to make space for conversation. If spaces are empty, I see that as a sign that someone, somewhere cares so much that they will happy build the space and wait for others to arrive.

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Exactly. From the article:

As far as Reddit’s fate is concerned I predict that what will happen to it is the same thing that is happening to Twitter and has already happened to Facebook and frankly, actual shopping malls. The business side of things will churn along divorced from the content which will become ever more generic and culturally irrelevant. The users who stay on Reddit will be of the unadventurous variety, not inclined to make waves or analyze their habits.

You are most welcome!

Lemmy devs actually publish their goals/methods for “hot” and “active” sorting here. You may find it of value!

The important difference, imo, is that Fediverse users have final say over the sorting of their own feeds. Reddit/Twitter/etc prioritize engagement, not actual value added to the user.

The essay is not about suggesting a dichotomy. The article is about how corporations sort their content feeds based on maximizing profitability, and the subsequent consequences that result for the end user (humans) in the form of endless distractions.

I personally am a big advocate of “no entertainment on mobile devices” whatsoever, but that said- I’ve played around with this modified version of Instagram and it’s pretty cool. I don’t think it changes the sort to chronological, but it does remove suggested content and allows users to turn off stories, reels and more (use at your own risk, I have no idea the safety of this).