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Comment by davesque | Hacker News Reader

I think this must be happening on every social media platform in some way. The fact is that people seem to love being afraid and anxious. Bad news spreads like wild fire. All that X bad actor has to do is just figure out any worrying take on a topic of choice and then just sit back and watch the mayhem.

I also think the most likely originators of this content are state actors. If they can pay a group of people to drop intellectual bombs in the public spheres of their enemies all day, I'm sure they see that as an overall (and very cheap) win. Honestly, it's more a question of why they wouldn't do this than why would they.

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> The fact is that people seem to love being afraid and anxious

They don't love it, but it does compel them to engage with the content. Engagement = growth. Social media is basically a cancer. There are good pockets here and there if curated carefully, but overall it seems like it's a drain on society.

My concern is that it creates a false sense of reality. As people become more consumed by technology, the content of the technology becomes their reality. To be delusional is my greatest fear.

That's definitely true. I have a family member that was doing a running program as part of physical therapy. One day they said they were afraid to go running alone because they read about a girl getting kidnapped while she was out for a run. Turns out it happened over 1000 miles away, but the constant fearmongering and outrage bait has warped their perception to think that kind of stuff is happening everywhere all the time.

For a few weeks I lived with people whose world view seemed shaped by popular news channels on TV. They seemed genuinely and constantly worried about getting mugged / raped / murdered / burgled in their perfectly quiet and innocent suburban neighbourhood. It has been years since then but this disconnect between reality and their perception still boggles my mind. And it really has me worried that it is not an isolated thing.

Also can make people think that others in a place nearby are dangerous and evil all of them, and in that way keep conflicts alive or start new.

> For a few weeks I lived with people whose world view seemed shaped by ..

I wonder, what could have been things to say, that could have helped them to stop looking at the world in that way

Unplugging the TV would have helped I suppose

Or giving them something else to think about, but what?

> I wonder, what could have been things to say, that could have helped them to stop looking at the world in that way

I'm not sure, I feel like you can't change people unless they want to be changed. I'd say lead by example and show that it can be different.

Personally I try my best not to judge people by looks. I've had some questionable looking people asking for help in the past. And they turned out to genuinely need help and it was easy to do and it felt good to do. Things like letting someone use my phone, getting their diabetic dog out of the sun and home, helping with public transport because they got shitfaced the night before and couldn't work out how to get home.

It also helps having been on the other side of it. No one wanted to even let nerdy-looking teenage me use their phone. My car broke down and I didn't have credit on my prepaid phone to call for help. Apparently not a single person I approached had a phone on them. Yeah, whatever...

> unless they want to be changed

Yes, I agree. And, sometimes people would want to change/do-things-differently, but they don't yet know that there are alternatives? ... Anyway, leading by example seems like a good idea.

Maybe saying "I just read this book ... Did you hear about it?" to indirectly helping someone start thinking about reading books -- instead of giving a lecture about problems with FB

> I've had some questionable looking people asking for help in the past. And they turned out to genuinely need help

I like the things you're doing :-)

> My car broke down and ...

Makes me wonder, how did you and the car get back home in the end :-)

> Maybe saying "I just read this book ... Did you hear about it?" to indirectly helping someone start thinking about reading books -- instead of giving a lecture about problems with FB

Yeah, maybe. Though reading books is yet another one of those things.

> Makes me wonder, how did you and the car get back home in the end :-)

Hah. It was in Germany. The car broke down on the exit of the highway. I ended up walking to the next town and asking people along the way. In the end a lady working in their front garden let me use their phone. It always stuck with me because she was the only person that I asked that wasn't German and at the same time the only person that had no issues with me using their phone. I called up roadside assistance and it all worked out from there.

I did consider dropping by with some flowers at a later point to say thanks. I never went through with it though, and pretty much forgot about it until writing this comment. Oh well, it would have been a nice gesture.

Ok, interesting to read :-)

I'd guess that she who lent you her phone, forgot about it somewhat soon, I'd guess she didn't think about it much. Yes would have been a nice gesture, she'd have remembered that forever :-)

I read someones comment that put this into perspective, here was the basic take:

In repressive regimes, social media is a boon for the general public to organize and resist.

In established democracies, social media has slow insidious negative effect on the general population, typically propaganda supplied by the disillusioned and said repressive regimes.

Social media triggered the Arab Spring which destroyed nations.

I think this is an aspect of a general network security problem. Another example is how the internet or phone system turns people in developing countries into targets for scammers worldwide. We just assume it's a inherently good thing that everyone can be connected to anyone else. But these are the downsides it creates.

web 2.0 makes one miss pubs

Every centralized "open to everyone" social media platform, yes. No "trends" on Mastodon though, so you don't have to worry about this BS on there, and blocking instances that allow bots/spam is easy. :)

Simple solution -- dont get your news from places that let anyone post. https://blog.nillium.com/fighting-misinformation-online/

It's not so simple though. Because even trusted curators and media organizations still feel obligated on some level to maximize engagement. To compete with social media, they often end up promoting and peddling similarly terrifying, pessimistic, and "engaging" content.

If anyone can post, you can see all the possible opinions. On sites with moderated content, you see only one sided opinions.

Whoever downvotes this (??): Am I wrong? You think Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, VK, Tumblr, LinkedIn etc. are not having their algorithms/feeds exploited by bot-posted content? Even the most cursory search on the web reveals countless reports.

Here are just a couple:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/19/social-me...

https://internetofbusiness.com/propaganda-bots-social-media-...

https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/06/24/how-fake-accounts-con...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2020/08/0...

I don't know why you're being downvoted. Decentralization is effective at limiting the effectiveness of misinformation. It's more difficult to impersonate a legitimate user in a smaller community.

Fear is a much more powerful and simple emotion than contentment or happiness. That's why things spread like wildfire, particularly in conservative circles. Often completely fake news circulates before there is any hope of quelling it.

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