The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Social media: The click-cattle, that's us

2019-09-14T14:07:42.280Z


We stare at terminals, run in front of trees, are dependent on bad graphics and bad codes. Instead of relevant content there are cats, babies and Bibis. Why the democratic Internet no longer exists.



column

It's going great. The biggest social experiment in human history. The network. The all-connected, democratic network with its great inventions. Facebook, oh man, Facebook. A platform. No more than an algorithm, bad design, and the idea of ​​gathering data, cataloging, investigating, and finally manipulating people. Was that a break? Man, so to speak, stepped out of his human shadow, out of his insignificance, suddenly there were - many.

Not stand out from the crowd, that was rewarded online

In front of the sofa, in the room, they seemed to float and began talking, sharing their children's photos. Forgetting that everything they said is public. Even if it is not public, there were Cambridge Analytica, which is called different today, and the NSA and MI5. And "hey" - who might have thought - "the toast loaves really make their own profiles, which saves us work."

Then came Twitter. A platform. No more than algorithms, bad design and the idea of ​​gathering data, cataloging people, scouting them out and finally manipulating them. That was for those who Facebook seemed too old. People practiced haikus, told jokes, crocheted pigs.

And then came Instagram. A platform. No more than algorithms, bad design and the idea of ​​gathering data, cataloging people, scouting them out and finally manipulating them. And Snapchat and WhatsApp and TikTok and Tinder and Grinder - hey!

The algorithms came to the top form, the humans ditto. They had found a voice that - as always when people form groups - soon turned against those who are different, look different, think differently, speak differently. Do not stand out from the crowd, it's been rewarded, with likes and hearts and comments that flatter those on Instagram who look like rubber dolls in front of rainbows. YouTube. (A platform, nothing more than algorithms, bad design and the idea of ​​collecting data, etc.)

The advertising-powered platform just replacing the television. Okay, to many broadcasters not a pity though - really? A corporation that sells advertising decides on the educational content of an upcoming generation. With cats. And babies. And Bibis. What violates the rules is blocked. The rules make those up there, on all the addictive human activity platforms, make the eyes flicker - to quote my own book, "GRM Brainfuck":

" The addictive potential of an entire generation has increased by 300 percent, the proportion of gamma-aminobutyric acid is greatly increased compared to glutamate and glutamine in the anterior cingulate cortex , based on the values ​​of the dead." The third generation of addicted, anxious, depressed, are no longer able to focus on a topic for more than two minutes. "

But calm, cultural pessimist, the net is also the biggest liberal experiment. Here arises the new world knowledge. But wait, that comes on Wikipedia. World knowledge is in this wonderful, democratic knowledge tool, which is used by all representatives of the media partly as the sole reference source. The resulting articles are considered proof of the correctness of Wikipedia entries - no matter who created them. Was the old system better, in which few were above world knowledge? Certainly not. Knowledge from all for all - will be fine, with swarm intelligence.

The victory of social media went along with that of the populists

What should one do if the Wiki wraps off newspapers, Nazis sell as middle-class, the photos on the platforms are avatars or filters - and there are also the grassroots blogs, vlogs, podcasts, online newspapers, tutorials.

The people, billions, depending on bad graphics and miserable code chains, staring into terminals, running in front of trees, getting under cars and it dawns on them slowly that they are not unique, just click-cattle on digital pastures.

The victory of the social platforms strangely went along with that of the populists, the moderators as presidents, the simple solutions, the dull language, the inelegant thoughts. On the net prevails, who shouts the loudest. Quickly upload a photo, "we are idiots" mumble, go down.

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2019-09-14

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-12T10:15:27.972Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.