Coincidentally on point, I just happened to rewatch the IT Crowd episode “FriendFace” (IMDB).
It came out December 2008, just as Facebook was going mainstream, and it fucking it nails it, all the way back then.
Transforming the internet into a single monolithic social space is just not a good idea. And it was likely the beginning of data mining, privacy breaches, manipulation etc. None of that makes anywhere nearly as much sense without big social platforms.
It could and should be remembered as our generation’s cigarettes/smoking. Something we all just did despite how obviously bad an idea it was (again, IT Crowd nailed it out of the gate, which means it was there for anyone to notice).
I hear you. I was also one of them. Never had my own Facebook account (someone made one “for me”) and I always found disturbing (there’s a scene in the IT Crowd episode that is exactly something I saw early that freaked me out). And being against Facebook is what brought decentralised social into my awareness.
But realistically, a large amount of people are active big social. Enough to characterise the way the world works.
I don’t think you are correct. Since the best way companies found to make money while giving things away for free is advertising, they need to keep people watching. Sadly the things that engage people most are fear and hatred. So that’s what we get served up.
It’s just the same old adages that news used to have, “if it bleeds, it leads”, but pushed up to 11.
Coincidentally on point, I just happened to rewatch the IT Crowd episode “FriendFace” (IMDB).
It came out December 2008, just as Facebook was going mainstream, and it fucking it nails it, all the way back then.
Transforming the internet into a single monolithic social space is just not a good idea. And it was likely the beginning of data mining, privacy breaches, manipulation etc. None of that makes anywhere nearly as much sense without big social platforms.
It could and should be remembered as our generation’s cigarettes/smoking. Something we all just did despite how obviously bad an idea it was (again, IT Crowd nailed it out of the gate, which means it was there for anyone to notice).
Nope, sorry to disagree but there were many of us who very loudly mentioned how Facebook is a terrible idea for society and mental health.
More like most people assumed it was safe, cause plenty of us saw it coming.
I hear you. I was also one of them. Never had my own Facebook account (someone made one “for me”) and I always found disturbing (there’s a scene in the IT Crowd episode that is exactly something I saw early that freaked me out). And being against Facebook is what brought decentralised social into my awareness.
But realistically, a large amount of people are active big social. Enough to characterise the way the world works.
It’s not The Internet or Smartphones. These are communication devices.
It’s people learning, thanks to increased networking and information access, that we live in a layer cake of dystopias.
I don’t think you are correct. Since the best way companies found to make money while giving things away for free is advertising, they need to keep people watching. Sadly the things that engage people most are fear and hatred. So that’s what we get served up.
It’s just the same old adages that news used to have, “if it bleeds, it leads”, but pushed up to 11.