[mikeyouse]

I was recently at a relative's house - at some point everyone kind of checked their phones and ended up on different apps - I couldn't believe how off-putting it was. Just flipping through the endless void of 'reels' on IG/TikTok/Facebook, many of which were just stolen videos from content mills with horrible AI voiceovers loosely describing the videos. "A man found a dog in a frozen lake, he jumped into action .. ". And they're incredibly addictive. Feels pretty problematic!

[RiverCrochet]

Tikok, YouTube and Facebook give me content I want, but I'm aggressive with telling them I don't like something. Those who don't do this really want the Internet to be a TV, and I'm starting to think they deserve what they get.

One of the early Internet's promises (as well as that of modernization in general) was that we'd have so much free time to pursue creative, fun things instead of having to be consumed constantly with drudgery. Not all people are creative, some of them really don't know what to do with themselves when they aren't working or engaged in drudgery. I don't know how to fix them. If part of the Internet being fake keeps them happy, then fine.

[mikeyouse]

Even Youtube now pushes tons of the search and discovery results to "Shorts" - I 'busted' a nephew who was supposed to be away from screens mindlessly watching Fortnite shorts on a TV in a far flung corner of the house. Just as pernicious as everything on Instagram or TikTok. Same kid was also sent home from 5th grade for dropping a racial slur that he had no idea what it meant.. just a terrible time to try to be raising kids.

[legitster]

Modern day opium dens.

[joquarky]

I expect soon we will have something akin to Nerve Attenuation Syndrome due to relentless burnout