[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by 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.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT REAL MEDIA. Independent and objective news sources are real media. Unfortunately, those are very hard to find these days, if you can find any at all. And I am calling out both sides of the media, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, etc.... There is no longer any independent and objective news source. Watch them all and figure the real truth is buried somewhere in between?

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by 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.

I don't know what I'm doing right, but I don't get any political stuff on Facebook. Nor do I get any news. And I have unfollowed all of my friends who post too much politics, whether they're in sync with my politics or not.


I get news from friends, what to do with senior dogs, how to eat a certain way. If I get sponsored posts for things I'm interested in, I will read. But I don't get politics or news. Just puppy food and grandbabies.

[Chitown]

I just watched the documentary on Netflix. It certainly makes you want to throw your cell phone and your computer in the garbage. Person to person communication and interaction has greatly changed since we grew up in the 50s, 60’s and 70’s. Prior to computers and cell phones people were forced to communicate with each other in person. This made longer lasting friendships and you were forced to learn conflict resolution. That’s what’s wrong with our country today millennials and people in their teens and 20s are learning things through social media such as Instagram TickTock and Facebook. Some will say that today’s young people and people in the future will be of great benefit to all this high-tech technology. While that statement is true you also completely lose touch with person-to-person interaction and the quietness of just sitting down and reading a good book.

[PugMom]

we've cancelled netflix months ago. i prefer prime or hulu

[Viperguy]

Originally Posted by Bucco

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

Look at the URL and research it. Gone are the days of factual reporting. There really are impartial sources.

[graciegirl]

777

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I absolutely and completely agree with this post from Orange Blossom Baby.

The OP of this thread has no experience with using Facebook and has no direct knowledge of what it is, and how it works. Many people are frightened of Facebook for imagined loss of privacy. Facebook can be an amazingly wonderful entity and very safe to use. For many people during this pandemic the interchanges and banter and repartee on Facebook is a great stress relief. It is entertaining, it is interesting, and the OP on this thread would love the political debates among people who know each other. On Facebook, users can block and control who sees the content of their posts and the memes they share.

The OP on this thread is judging without knowledge. The use of Facebook is not without peril, but it is mostly positive to me and many people who live in The Villages and all across the world. It opens our dialogue to friends and family members and allows us to see and chat and share political and moral views and adorable grandchildren's pictures. Facebook is a medium to communicate and really not a source of news in itself. News is repeated, expounded on and lied about, just like on this forum.

If you do not at least LOOK at Facebook, see how it works, you are much behind the times and unaware in my opinion.

How people feel about Mark Zuckerberg has nothing to do with how people use and enjoy Facebook.

It isn't an imaginary loss of privacy. It is a very specific loss of privacy. And the user (the person who uses these social media platforms) is in control of who gets to see and use their private information. There are tools to mask your IP and tools to mask your personally identifiable information. There are tools to prevent you from ever seeing a single sponsored ad. There are tools to block anyone who offends you. There are tools to ONLY allow you to see people who you personally invited to visit your page.

But the fewer tools you use, the more privacy you give away. There's a balance, and you just need to be intelligent and patient enough to learn what that balance is. Most people are lazy, not stupid. They just can't be bothered. And then when they keep getting ads from political campaigns whining at them to donate more, or telling them that the other guy is a jerk, and how they're going to prevent the world from blowing itself up if only you would vote for their guy... they want to know what conspiracy this is.

It's a self-created conspiracy. You clicked on a political ad once. By doing that, you gave the sponsor of that ad permission to recognize your IP address. By doing THAT, you gave it permission to send MORE ads to any instance of that IP address doing anything on that social media website. Watch a video about puppies? Well the "Party for Dogs that Like Candidate Q" is going to send you THEIR puppy videos explaining why you should vote for that candidate. All because you once clicked on that candidate's website.

That's just a hypothetical, no idea if that exact example happens (because I pick and choose, with understanding and knowledge, which political things I will allow onto my facebook page). But that's the general idea of it.

You have NO privacy on the internet. Not anywhere on the internet, at all. Unless you know how to mask your IP, several layers deep, someone somewhere out there knows you're there. And it's watching you.

Learn to accept that, and you'll have no more complaints.

[camaguey48]

Be an independent thinker and check out information yourself. News is no longer that. It's all about the advertising dollars it generates when they report misleading information thus manipulating their viewers and inflating tensions. Don't believe everything you see or hear. Even salt looks like sugar.

[Bucco]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I absolutely and completely agree with this post from Orange Blossom Baby.

The OP of this thread has no experience with using Facebook and has no direct knowledge of what it is, and how it works. Many people are frightened of Facebook for imagined loss of privacy. Facebook can be an amazingly wonderful entity and very safe to use. For many people during this pandemic the interchanges and banter and repartee on Facebook is a great stress relief. It is entertaining, it is interesting, and the OP on this thread would love the political debates among people who know each other. On Facebook, users can block and control who sees the content of their posts and the memes they share.

The OP on this thread is judging without knowledge. The use of Facebook is not without peril, but it is mostly positive to me and many people who live in The Villages and all across the world. It opens our dialogue to friends and family members and allows us to see and chat and share political and moral views and adorable grandchildren's pictures. Facebook is a medium to communicate and really not a source of news in itself. News is repeated, expounded on and lied about, just like on this forum.

If you do not at least LOOK at Facebook, see how it works, you are much behind the times and unaware in my opinion.

How people feel about Mark Zuckerberg has nothing to do with how people use and enjoy Facebook.

I agree with OBB as well. As the OP I am not sure why you feel attacking me without watching the documentary, or reading my posts is the thing to do, but....

I made it clear that NO particular site is doing anything, but that their platform is being used. That platform was set up to make money, nothing else.

I made it clear that it covers all social media, not just the one you speak of.

I did not refer to, but call now to your attention, that both the House and the senate agree and understand the risk.

I never said there were no virtues in your favorite platform.

Just wish folks would read and try to understand, but that may be asking too much.

And despite the "panning" of me, I still maintain that the doc is a good one, and still maintain that we are extremely naive concerning privacy and control on this medium. My point of view is shared by those who actually set it up and who know.

Oh, and by the way...I was a long time Facebook user but deleted my account based on many things. Still maintain my contacts, but safer.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by 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.

You get what you put into Facebook. I get a lot of interaction with friends and family, some political stuff, lots of ads especially from law firms, some cool stuff from various Villages' area physicians, and occasional talks with celebrities who may or may not be genuine. Lots of fake stuff out there which Facebook does now seem to be removing.

This is just a business and they use various algorithms based on what you search on Facebook. So I get blonde nurse stuff (inside joke). Even though I have dated and/or befriended women of many different ethnic backgrounds-- the blonde nurse stuff comes up as I mention that a lot of Facebook. In another area, my sister-in-law re-emerged on Facebook after being gone a year or so selling cupcakes so I will probably be seeing a lot of stuff on cupcakes soon including anyone who sells cupcakes in Central Florida.

[Bucco]

Originally Posted by Chitown

I just watched the documentary on Netflix. It certainly makes you want to throw your cell phone and your computer in the garbage. Person to person communication and interaction has greatly changed since we grew up in the 50s, 60’s and 70’s. Prior to computers and cell phones people were forced to communicate with each other in person. This made longer lasting friendships and you were forced to learn conflict resolution. That’s what’s wrong with our country today millennials and people in their teens and 20s are learning things through social media such as Instagram TickTock and Facebook. Some will say that today’s young people and people in the future will be of great benefit to all this high-tech technology. While that statement is true you also completely lose touch with person-to-person interaction and the quietness of just sitting down and reading a good book.

It is very chilling, and note in the documentary how unaware people are that they are being used.

Folks think that it is clear cut when you are being steered and/or controlled but it never is. Every keystroke means something in the algorythm and whether you admit it or not, you get locked in and will see only what "they" want you to see (and again, "they" refers to anyone with the knowledge or desire).

I was struck by professionals who wrote the programs, who administer the programs, who know of what they speak explains as best can be done in English, how it works. Seamless and unidentifiable.

Those who condemn the mainstream media, yet post YouTube videos or that kind of stuff simply astound me with naivety. I am able, albeit not as easily as I could, to find accurate news with facts that are simple to validate.

[Bucco]

"Facebook, under pressure to curb misinformation on its platform, has made amplifying credible health information a key element of its response. It has also started removing misinformation about the novel coronavirus outbreak, which it said could cause imminent harm.

The world's biggest social network said last month it removed nearly 800 QAnon conspiracy groups for posts celebrating violence, showing intent to use weapons, or attracting followers with patterns of violent behavior."

Facebook says will no longer show health groups in recommendations | Reuters
------------

Good move, but how do you "unlearn" false info ?

[Bucco]

Originally Posted by Aloha1

CNN?? Seriously??

Good adult move.

Attack the messenger.....do not discuss the issue in play.

Tell us what in the link is not true, Or in your vernacular "fake"

[Bucco]

Originally Posted by Chitown

I just watched the documentary on Netflix. It certainly makes you want to throw your cell phone and your computer in the garbage. Person to person communication and interaction has greatly changed since we grew up in the 50s, 60’s and 70’s. Prior to computers and cell phones people were forced to communicate with each other in person. This made longer lasting friendships and you were forced to learn conflict resolution. That’s what’s wrong with our country today millennials and people in their teens and 20s are learning things through social media such as Instagram TickTock and Facebook. Some will say that today’s young people and people in the future will be of great benefit to all this high-tech technology. While that statement is true you also completely lose touch with person-to-person interaction and the quietness of just sitting down and reading a good book.

And when you hear heads of state refer to these stories, it makes you shudder.

[graciegirl]

444