[beat]

I was actively involved in the BBS scene back in the mid-1990s. It had most of the same problems Facebook/Twitter does today - and the same attractions, albeit not as refined.

Unfortunately, it's taken me 25 years to recognize the toxicity to the point of quitting.

[chiefalchemist]

The tipping point was the mobile device. Now instead of getting an (unhealthy) dose of confirmation bias once per morning and/or once per evening, now you get it all day, every day. The more people confirm their bias the less likely objectivity is to "leak" into their echo chamber.

[beat]

I think "objectivity" is bullshit, but echo chambers and confirmation bias are a big problem. Then again, politics aren't the only problem with online addiction - they're not even the biggest problem, imho.

I do think your point about mobile devices is spot-on, though. I was asking myself why I don't mind HN while I avoid FB and Twitter, and the fact that I don't use it on my phone may be a big part of that. Cal Newport gives this advice as part of Digital Minimalism as well... restrict your social media to real computers only, and absolutely avoid any phone apps.

[chiefalchemist]

The original article mentioned divisive. I think politics is the key driver to that, with the mainstream media being a willing and active enabler of division.

[beat]

Yeah, but it also says we won't quit, even though we all know it's divisive. That's because it's also addictive. And that addiction also affects people who pointedly avoid engaging in politics at all online.

The ability to create your own echo chamber is contributing to divisive politics, yes. But that's not the media... that's self-selection. We tend to be friends with people like ourselves culturally. And we wind up unfriending/blocking (or at least muting) people whose politics and lives make our blood boil, out of self-defense. The media isn't actively enabling this... we are.

My own social life is mostly around the Minneapolis performing arts community - my friends are either active participants in or fans of local music, theater, and dance. So it's a bunch of educated upper-midwest liberals. That's a formula for political echo chamber, but it's not because the media is manipulating me! Likewise, I have a childhood friend who runs a Harley-Davidson shop in rural Pennsylvania. His right-wing politics are an echo chamber made up of his social life of bikers and rural white people. He's not a victim of the media. He just lives a different life than me.

[chiefalchemist]

"He's not a victim of the media."

I don't agree. The (news) media is misleading, if not deceptive, in how it presents itself. The major of the time it's not news per se, but shit that will draw the most eyeballs and attract the most attention, etc. Even for the casual observer it's easy to get sucked into that vortex.

Fake news is not simply a matter of truth or not. It's also about importance and relevance. For example, I took a dump this morning. That's a fact. But that doesn't make it news. So any any given moment, the news isn't pushing news, it's pushing - like everything else - increased engagement.

Intended or not, active participants or not, we are all victims of that because it manipulates broader perceptions, agendas, etc.