[Bucco]

To those who use social media often, i.e., Facebook, Google, etc. especially those who believe they are not being influenced by whatever platform they use, may I suggest the new documentary on Netflix, titled The Social Dilemma.

It is chilling, and reinforces the fear I have expressed on this site many times. People who work, or did work in the industry reflect on a number of things.

How you are manipulated, and you swear it is impossible. They show vignettes on how one action you make will define what you will see, no matter what you say or do.

Near the end of the documentary, each is asked what the future holds if we do not wake up soon, and the one that got to me was this......after hesitation thecanswer was...."in the short term, civil war"

This was written about the doc....

"Never before in history have 50 designers made decisions that would have an impact on two billion people,” says Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google. Anna Lembke, an addiction expert at Stanford University, explains that these companies exploit the brain’s evolutionary need for interpersonal connection. And Roger McNamee, an early investor in Facebook, delivers a chilling allegation: Russia didn’t hack Facebook; it simply used the platform."

‘The Social Dilemma’ Review: Unplug and Run - The New York Times

Chilling but should be required watching for every person on the planet. If you feel this is much ado about nothing, or overblown, I say...you are wrong.

Please watch as the credits roll and those participating give suggestions.

[davem4616]

some would say that we are already in a civil war....

sometimes ya gotta name it to claim it

The documentary might be manipulating me as well, but does sound interesting. I am skeptical of anything from the media and have to verify.

[Viperguy]

Too bad because a large percentage of us get the majority of our news from these sites. Easy to spread anything that fits your agenda and if it is done artfully it will go "viral".

[Bucco]

Originally Posted by John41

The documentary might be manipulating me as well, but does sound interesting. I am skeptical of anything from the media and have to verify.

May I ask how you keep track of whatever is happening in the country, world, or anything ?

[Bucco]

Originally Posted by cgilcreast

Too bad because a large percentage of us get the majority of our news from these sites. Easy to spread anything that fits your agenda and if it is done artfully it will go "viral".

The vignettes to educate us on how shows clearly that almost every keystroke tells them something. What we think is simply so innocent is not to them. "THEM" relates to those wishing to use your information to make money, but can be used to insure whatever message they want to deliver is done to insure YOU feel as if you are in control.

One of the "hints" given at the end was NEVER click on a recommended video on YOUTUBE.

[Bucco]

Headlines today feature a group called Turning Point USA paying teens (secretly) many under age to flood social media with disinformation.

No link trying to stay in guidelines, but Washington Post has a feature as well as Business Insider

Originally Posted by Bucco

May I ask how you keep track of whatever is happening in the country, world, or anything ?

I check several sources on TV and print and focus just on the facts in the reporting not the emotion. Then I wait until enough facts are uncovered to form a conclusion.

[Dana1963]

It has been documented that the older a person gets they are more likely to believe conspiracy theories and pass them on with out checking. It’s like repeating a lie long enough you will actually believe it yourself.
Facebook in EVIL!

[Bucco]

Originally Posted by cgilcreast

Too bad because a large percentage of us get the majority of our news from these sites. Easy to spread anything that fits your agenda and if it is done artfully it will go "viral".

I certainly hope that "large percentage" is an overstatement.

We have been advised for years about this, thus not sure I understand visiting these sites to allow someone to control.....well, what you think.

And before you disbelieve, these algorithms can and do exert very strong impact on what you think.

This is an interesting read...

'If Then' Author Jill Lepore Traces The Genesis Of Data-Driven Politics : NPR

And this....imagine how many people don't get the truth on something like a pandemic...

YouTube Has More Misleading Coronavirus Videos Than We Thought | Digital Trends

[Bucco]

An update on my post number 2.....

“Twitter and Facebook have shut down accounts on their platforms reportedly linked to a misleading social media campaign run by Turning Point Action, an offshoot of popular conservative youth activist organization Turning Point USA.”

Twitter and Facebook shut down accounts linked to Turning Point Action' misleading social media campaign - CNNPolitics

[tophcfa]

This is a political thread hidden under the cloak of Netflix

[Taltarzac725]

Just develop your critical thinking skills and go down the list that search engines provide you.

I have found that many Villagers seem to have some grounding in science, mathematics, engineering or some related field.

25 Of The Best Resources For Teaching Critical Thinking

Public Library of Critical Thinking Resources

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by John41

I check several sources on TV and print and focus just on the facts in the reporting not the emotion. Then I wait until enough facts are uncovered to form a conclusion.

So if Fox says "36% of all widgets are blue" and NBC says "28% of all widgets are blue, while 8% are turquoise" and ABC says "10% of all widgets are blue-green, while 26% are blue," and CBS says "It doesn't matter how many widgets are blue, because it's the yellow ones that are killing 85% of the population that gets exposed to them"...

How do you know what, exactly, you're supposed to conclude, and how do you know which ones are facts, and how do you know which facts even matter?

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

The media itself (Facebook and twitter) I don't feel have nefarious purposes in any of this. There's no conspiracy backed by Facebook to twist the minds of its members. However, their system works such that we are provided with content that we choose to prefer. So if I like reading things about puppies, the system will provide me with more puppy content to enjoy. If I prefer reading things that are pro-blue, I will be presented with more pro-blue things to read. And within that group of pro-blue things, will be anti-red things. Because pro-blue is not happy with red. They don't get along, the system knows this because the system exists to keep track of that kind of thing.

It's not any person in Facebook that says "hey let's make these people hate each other!" But rather, it's people hating each other, being provided with more ammunition to continue their hatred, because it's simply what floats their boat and the system has no emotional investment in either of them being right or wrong. It knows only that Joe likes Red and doesn't like Blue, and Sue likes Blue and doesn't like Red. It gives them what they want. That is its function.

If you don't want to be influenced by any one or other thing, then don't focus your interest on any one or other thing when you visit these media sites. If you want to very specifically avoid any one or other thing, it's very easy to do, on all of those media sites. You can put up an adblocker, AND on Facebook there's a thing called FBP, which stands for Facebook Purity. It's a very sophisticated totally independent filtering add-on, it's free, it's supported and updated regularly, and it does a great job.

The only political stuff I ever see on Facebook, is political stuff I WANT to see. And I can shut -that- stuff off with a click of the mouse, any time.