[Opinion] Are Facebook and Twitter evil tools of enslavement?

[Irish Bard]

You know getting into this forum and a few creative writing ones has been a breath of fresh air and a happy return to early 2000s internet (yes I'm that old).

I've become sick of the shallow, vacuous, attention hungry world of Facebook and their effect on discourse. And it's really got me thinking...

The mechanics of Facebook and Twitter have been designed to encourage reactionary, shallow, aggressive communication styles. Discussion forums have always leaned towards civil, expansive, genuinely exploratory conversations. Even when you don't agree with the other guys you tend to leave the conversation with a better understanding of the "other side" and maybe a little more respect for them. (I'm not saying there's never bickering but seldom on the shocking levels that FB and Twitter enflame.)

Facebook and Twitter on the other hand drive the users towards memes, sloganeering, entrenched one note political tribalism in a very Orwellian (newspeak) way.

If magick is the art and science of refining and empowering thought energy to hit reality (an area more interesting writers touch on), then is Facebook anti-magick? A vampiric effort to drain the world of their higher powers of imagination and language?

I do not really believe the runaway (borderline monopolistic) success of Facebook is purely down to timing/luck/"A perfect product" alone.

FB was I suspect invested in, tailored and subtly (but powerfully) marketed by huge players behind the scenes regardless of the Zuchy geeky Cinderella yarn that is so frequently spun.

I believe it is a malicious device to control the internet's potential for expanding the human experience and universal consciousness to the great heights we should get experiencing.

Your thoughts my dear friends?

 

[Samuel the Druidic Auger]

Without question, there is a war on truth. Obfuscation is the agenda. Tribalism is a tool, once utilized by the people seeking survival, and now leveraged by the higher echelons of society to keep the populace dumbed down and infighting.

Let’s take a look at hostility- It’s a state of being that succeeds a lengthy state of defensiveness. Hostility is a learned state of being. It is by design that people who are exposed to fighting over ideas have become hostile, and segregated into tribalistic groups, cut off from the desire to understand others ideas and overly concerned with others adopting theirs.

Nobody wins. The only solution is to refuse to engage. Take what one can from the data, try to look past the hostility, and just know that many of those who cannot escape the allure of endorphins from it aren’t acting on a natural volition.

All any individual can do, is think and act at their own behest. The world it seems has to grow and evolve, and whatever it collectively endures is in fact, the very lesson it needs.

 

[Alfher]

Nope.

Social Media in general does have a lot of socio-political issues that need to be addressed for a long list of reasons.

But if you’re not enjoying your social media experience, you simply haven’t learned how to use the block button properly and fine tune your feed.

My social media is full of free education from therapists, psychologists, and other academia. I’m in several active occult communities on Facebook in particular with healthy discourse focused on serious research and committed practice. There’s wholesome support for the queer community and sex workers in my feed, mutual aid networks from anarchists, and many other things that enrich my life. Not to mention the funny memes.

Social Media tends to be a reflection of yourself. If you look at your reflection and do not like what you see, work on yourself. Shadow Work is easily accessible praxis these days, and it’s not that hard to learn how to manage your social life into healthy dynamics.

 

[Scottish_Pride]

Nope.

Social Media in general does have a lot of socio-political issues that need to be addressed for a long list of reasons.

But if you’re not enjoying your social media experience, you simply haven’t learned how to use the block button properly and fine tune your feed.

My social media is full of free education from therapists, psychologists, and other academia. I’m in several active occult communities on Facebook in particular with healthy discourse focused on serious research and committed practice. There’s wholesome support for the queer community and sex workers in my feed, mutual aid networks from anarchists, and many other things that enrich my life. Not to mention the funny memes.

Social Media tends to be a reflection of yourself. If you look at your reflection and do not like what you see, work on yourself. Shadow Work is easily accessible praxis these days, and it’s not that hard to learn how to manage your social life into healthy dynamics.

I don't think most people know to do that, though. And even then, controversial bullshit sometimes has a habit of jacking algorithms off and making them recommend weird things.

 

[Scottish_Pride]

I don't know whether I'd go so far as to say that full-blown conspiratorial shit's involved, so I'd be deferring to Occam's razor on that for now. But I do think the simple motive of profit leads them down some very questionable avenues. (Remember, you are the product in the form of ads) It's common knowledge that many of these sites, notoriously Facebook, are designed to be as addictive and absolutely all-consuming as possible. Those cheap thrills, flashy icons and widgets hit that dumb-monkey-reward part of our brains just right, thus people keep wanting to use it more and more. Naturally, these companies want to keep their big cash cow going, so they continue to research even better ways to keep people coming back for more, even possibly taking how casinos are structured as inspiration. Of course, none of this is necessarily with the average user's well-being taken into account. Remember, they are the product.

I'd also remember the law of polarity, and what it implies about the natural tendency of humans and their beliefs. The things you're polarized about, are the things very likely to make you react either negatively or positively. It's the fastest way to get a rise out of anybody, to make them do something, rush to defend an argument, etc. And this may feed right into social media and how controversial things blow up. They get the most likes or comments, the most attentive and captivated audience, because they simply get a rise out of people. Throw in the fact that many are already trapped in their own algorithm bubble to a degree, which can lead to further polarization of personal beliefs if one isn't careful, and you've got a perfect recipe for flame wars. Especially with influencers taken into account, stoking whatever fire they can to get a following and pay the rent. Because remember, no publicity is bad publicity in the long run. One's emotions keep them coming back, or those little dopamine hits do. It's what most people tend to scroll on their phones for, more so than broadening their horizons or bettering themselves as a human being.

And I believe that is, in and of itself, a direct reflection on the quality of person our society likes to create. Look at everything from our education system to pop culture, even before the days of the internet. From the earliest age, we teach children not to question much. To shut up, sit quietly and do as teacher says. Shuffle through endless lines, don't make waves. To take what's told to you by an authority figure at face value, do as expected or there will be consequences. This kind of environment doesn't altogether disappear once you graduate, because it's similar in the average workplace. Very rarely are people invited to think for themselves, from the cradle to the grave. So when you're a big-name TV producer, director, musician, magazine or newspaper editor, or nowadays the owner of a social media platform, what are you going to do? Assuming you're really only in it for the money, as most of the huge mainstream names in America tend to be, you're gonna cater to this lowest common denominator. Don't count on the very kind of educated audience that's been discouraged in a population for decades, if you're solely wanting as many people to tune in as possible. The social media giants are, sadly, only another ugly reflection of this harsh reality.

 

[Alfher]

I don't think most people know to do that, though. And even then, controversial bullshit sometimes has a habit of jacking algorithms off and making them recommend weird things.

Tik Tok and Twitter sometimes still recommend me odd things, but Facebook mainly stays in the lane that I put it in.

I know that not enough people know as much Media Literacy as they should to navigate things properly, but it’s not that hard a skill to learn.

A lot of occultists in particular tend to forget that ya’ll got magic as well, and it can be used on shit like this too. “The Algorithm” has its own spirits and energies, ya know.

 

[Incognitus]

There's a couple things to unpack here.

There's verifiable proof that Facebook (likely Twitter and other social media sites) use methods to control people. For example, there is the now very much public emotion/psychological experiments Facebook did on their users in 2014 (source:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

). This is only one example of a large social site being caught at manipulating its users. Imagine how much sites use psychological cues without being caught. Without us even knowing, but our brains are still acting on those cues.

I've been on the Internet since it became public in the early 90's. I've been a professional systems and network admin since 1996. I used to be proud of that fact, but as the years have gone by I am seeing more and more how damaging the Internet is. These sites don't even need to exert control. Users will ultimately do it themselves. I think social media is destroying humanity and it's the perspective of decades that really makes it clear, but on the other hand, humans are being humans and doing much of it to themselves and each other, without the help of algorithms or psychological cues. Anonymity allows people to safely act like the total pieces of crap they are, mostly without consequences. It's a self-feeding, self-fulfilling monster that's just going to eat more and more of our humanity.

What to do about it? I dunno. I'm here posting on a forum and checking Twitter. My entire livelihood is wrapped up in this. So I guess I'm just as stuck as everyone else. It's one case that knowledge of the problem doesn't solve the problem.

 

[Irish Bard]

There's a couple things to unpack here.

There's verifiable proof that Facebook (likely Twitter and other social media sites) use methods to control people. For example, there is the now very much public emotion/psychological experiments Facebook did on their users in 2014 (source:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

). This is only one example of a large social site being caught at manipulating its users. Imagine how much sites use psychological cues without being caught. Without us even knowing, but our brains are still acting on those cues.

I've been on the Internet since it became public in the early 90's. I've been a professional systems and network admin since 1996. I used to be proud of that fact, but as the years have gone by I am seeing more and more how damaging the Internet is. These sites don't even need to exert control. Users will ultimately do it themselves. I think social media is destroying humanity and it's the perspective of decades that really makes it clear, but on the other hand, humans are being humans and doing much of it to themselves and each other, without the help of algorithms or psychological cues. Anonymity allows people to safely act like the total pieces of crap they are, mostly without consequences. It's a self-feeding, self-fulfilling monster that's just going to eat more and more of our humanity.

What to do about it? I dunno. I'm here posting on a forum and checking Twitter. My entire livelihood is wrapped up in this. So I guess I'm just as stuck as everyone else. It's one case that knowledge of the problem doesn't solve the problem.

I'm a database specialist myself - seems to be a lot of us geeks on this board! I really don't see the technology itself as the problem - after all, here we are. The problem I think is the SEMI-interactive nature of Facebook and its blatant manipulation of users. The illusion of choice and the all to powerful algorithm which governs the conversation.

The difference between that and a forum like this is that forums tend to be a lot more honest and transparent in their presentation of information - new posts and popular threads rise to the top and that's it. No privileged users weighting the scores, no weighting on one side of a topic or another.

I honestly see the problem as one on monopoly and dominance.

 

[SkullTraill]

I'm a database specialist myself - seems to be a lot of us geeks on this board! I really don't see the technology itself as the problem - after all, here we are. The problem I think is the SEMI-interactive nature of Facebook and its blatant manipulation of users. The illusion of choice and the all to powerful algorithm which governs the conversation.

The difference between that and a forum like this is that forums tend to be a lot more honest and transparent in their presentation of information - new posts and popular threads rise to the top and that's it. No privileged users weighting the scores, no weighting on one side of a topic or another.

I honestly see the problem as one on monopoly and dominance.

Exactly.

I wouldn't say social media is controlling you as much as I would say it is engineering society. None of these social media really care about individuals as much as they care about affecting society on a macro scale.

Once you're aware of this, and if you are of strong constitution, it's relatively easy to avoid getting pulled into the current. The only problem is, as society changes around you, even if it is for the worse, the more you stick out as a stubborn sore thumb that refuses to change, the harder life will become for you.

 

[Irish Bard]

Exactly.

I wouldn't say social media is controlling you as much as I would say it is engineering society. None of these social media really care about individuals as much as they care about affecting society on a macro scale.

Once you're aware of this, and if you are of strong constitution, it's relatively easy to avoid getting pulled into the current. The only problem is, as society changes around you, even if it is for the worse, the more you stick out as a stubborn sore thumb that refuses to change, the harder life will become for you.

succinct and elegant - that is exactly what is going on. Subduing society by diffusing alertness and passion into petty squabbles. Intellectual enquiry into dogmatic political bickering. I think hard and easy are matters of perspective, I think the harder life is the quiet desperation of knowing something's been taken but being unsure what..

 

[Scottish_Pride]

The problem I think is the SEMI-interactive nature of Facebook and its blatant manipulation of users. The illusion of choice and the all to powerful algorithm which governs the conversation.

The difference between that and a forum like this is that forums tend to be a lot more honest and transparent in their presentation of information - new posts and popular threads rise to the top and that's it. No privileged users weighting the scores, no weighting on one side of a topic or another.

I honestly see the problem as one on monopoly and dominance.

Honestly, I think this also ties into the issue of there being money in it for them to skew their algorithms to the "paying" side. A lot of these other issues can also tie back to the fact that there's too much for to gain by making social media the way it is. Real money got involved, so as always, the corporate leeches followed. Apps have now been mostly designed to cash out, and the well-being of human beings takes a backburner. As it does in other lucrative industries.