I have deeply conflicting feelings about Facebook, which I joined last year. One the one hand it allows me simple and frequent communication with friends, classmates, neighbors, relatives. On the other hand it is loaded with utter crap, including extraordinarily realistic AI creations and misleading clickbait. Of course on the third hand it reassures me by feeding me more and more material I agree with because its algorithm is designed to do just that.
Intermixed with all that is a potential abundance of "ordinary" (nonpolitical, nonpersonal) postings from history groups, science and technology groups, scholarly institutions, and reputable news sources. It's sometimes hard to tell which is which.
Take for example the screencap embedded above. Interesting, certainly. And makes sense. If you are already fucking up the ecosystem of the abyssal plane of the world's oceans by harvesting manganese nodules, it makes sense to add the capability to do a little snip-snip on a rival's undersea cables.
I don't have time to chase down primary sources all the time. I made a screencap of that item, but did not go to the South China Morning Post to confirm that the article exists.
Going forward, anything I post in the "from Facebook" category should be viewed with suspicion. And I'm not providing links because I don't want to support clickbait. You can search for relevant info elsewhere.
Wow - I always start my day with you, but you've blown me away today.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been a happy but quiet follower of Tywkiwdbi for many years now and I thought I’d just pipe up to say how much I admire what you post. I live in Australia and I’m 52 and I recognise a kindred spirit in you. I don’t enjoy engaging in the social side of social media (like you I’m conflicted about fb and tend to only use it to find curious gems to read). The only difference between us, it seems, is that it hurts me on numerous levels to read about Trump so I avoid the topic completely. That said, I’m very glad there are people like you who can take on all the news and talk about it to spread awareness.
ReplyDeleteI’ll probably never post on here again but thank you on behalf of all your silent readers who enjoy your writing and your wonderful heart. Here’s hoping goodness prevails in this nutty world.
"The only difference between us, it seems, is that it hurts me on numerous levels to read about Trump so I avoid the topic completely."
DeleteThat's not really a difference between us. I hurt on every level from my cortex to my brainstem, but I have to write about it because he's hurting us so badly (and our children and grandchildren) on so many different levels.
I do not use FB and I do not want to go there because it is 'paywall-ed' - FB wants you to login to see anything. As long as you do not start posting FB links (i.e. to see more about something), that's OK w/ me.
ReplyDeleteFrom your anti-FB rave above, I would think you would not be posting FB links anyway.
Are you hoping to get addicted and win a lawsuit? ;
ReplyDeleteI very much understand your ambiguity about Facebook. In theory it ought to be a great thing, unfortunately I don't think the implementation is very good for the users.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to do just fine at manufacturing money for the company
I did the opposite of what you've done, about a year and a half ago I cut off Facebook but it is a tempting thing.
My regard for Facebook is so low that the phrase "I saw this on Facebook..." is enough to stop me from reading any further.
ReplyDeleteMust be absolutely true! After all, you can see it on Facebook AND Tywkiwdbi!
ReplyDeleteDon't know anything about facebook but here's this:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reuters.com/investigations/china-is-mapping-ocean-floor-it-prepares-submarine-warfare-with-us-2026-03-24/
My karate community uses Facebook, so I signed up a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteNow if you want to see some top-tier weirdness, get a NextDoor account. It's a combination of complains, begging for money, obnoxious evangelization, and questions that could be answered with a simple Google search.
As a librarian, I used to teach media literacy sessions. I can do it in one class period but really need two. I still do teach them, occasionally, but only on request. I don't advertise it on the library's instructional menu. It's just too risky.
Facebook is great at turning mental health and societal cohesion into money. In my opinion, the biggest negative about using it is that one is aiding them in their mission.
ReplyDeleteNo idea how accurate the picture is, I'd just have hoped they'd organised communications cables a little better than I do the USB cables in THAT drawer.
ReplyDeleteSure got a lot of first time messages when you mentioned Facebook. Not suspicious at all, I'm sure.
"Sure got a lot of first time messages when you mentioned Facebook"
DeleteAnton, I'm not clear on what you are saying here. You got messages from whom? on Facebook or email? How could my posting here on a Google platform affect you???
I was on FB years ago. What I learned: of you wouldn't recognize them on your front porch, they aren't your friends; the endorphins of the FB algorithm exacerbate loneliness; people can be very cruel when they can remain anonymous; that kind of social media is a soul sucker--taking your time and giving zero skcuf about your actual needs. I discontinued FB 11 years ago and my mental health and social life improved.
ReplyDeleteI stick to blogs because the daily contributions use up less than an hour a day, and don't send me doom scrolling.
Even stopped watching local news which is only drama or agenda, or both. Even the weather has become hyperbole.
>> on the third hand it reassures me by feeding me more and more material I agree with because its algorithm is designed to do just that.
ReplyDeleteThis used to be true. In the last year, I find that FB pushes (unwanted, unsolicited) right-wing hogwash accounts into my feed, from Charlie Kirk to cuckoo congresscritters to corrupt Cabinet members. I am forced to block new ones daily in defense of my blood pressure. My block list must be getting very long. I stay on FB only because of friends and relatives who use it, but FB no longer meets any need that I have.
Well, if you have not read Adam Mosseri (head of Meta's Instagram) posting about AI images. Basically, good luck adapting to the world I am creating. He is saying: We will not verify that a poster is a real human, we will not verify if the content is real, we will not verify that the comments are generated by and AI botnet, we will serve you ragebait and advertisements, we will see your data to *anyone* and you, dear user, just adapt.
ReplyDelete"For most of my life I could safely assume photographs or videos were largely accurate captures of moments that happened. This is clearly no longer the case and it’s going to take us years to adapt.
We’re going to move from assuming what we see is real by default, to starting with skepticism. Paying attention to who is sharing something and why. This will be uncomfortable - we’re genetically predisposed to believing our eyes."
--Adam Mosseri
Link from Reddit but others out there. https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtificialInteligence/comments/1q25ld6/you_cant_trust_your_eyes_to_tell_you_whats_real/