I'm not the first to say it and I won't be the last, but it just amazes me how the older generation went from "never post your name online, never upload a photo with your face on it, and always be skeptical of things you see on the internet" to "I have to give this sketchy website my credit card info because a guy on Facebook told me...." and then the most bonkers conspiracy theory you have ever heard.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Its because all the old people who dont even know the basics of computers are finally catching up thanks to social media.

Not that its a bad thing. I just wish that social media is held accountable for scams and bullying cuz they have the authority to do something about it.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

No, it's algorithms. They prioritise retention and everything else gets tossed onto that fire. Decency, mental health, reality, it doesn't matter. The machine will stochastically find every weakness in human psychology and exploit it.

And that is driven by business decisions. Facebook in Myanmar was the de facto internet because they'd subsidised it so they would have a monopoly. They knew that they needed to implement native language filters to deal with bigotry that was becoming rampant on the platform because their algorithm was finding that bigotry and amplifying it. But they noticed that when they turned on those filters, their revenue went down, so they disabled them. That decision is fairly credibly implicated in the genocide that followed.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

Smartphones have been a disaster for the internet.

Barrier to entry is not a bad thing.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

There's little overlap between the two groups. The latter just joined very late and are clueless. The early adopters are mostly still doing fine.