'Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.' –Mike Tyson
I think about this often when I see what people post online.
LOL facts tho. I once had this younger dude try to explain to a few older women at work that they shouldnnt say something (can’t exactly remember what it was) because it would get her “cancelled” dude was 100% serious he also got that exact same “wtf” reaction
fr. So many kids are constantly exposed to the same recycled clips that portray women negatively, often labeling them as hoes. Meanwhile, content showing women in everyday, positive roles goes unnoticed because it doesn’t attract views. As a result, the majority of what these kids see regarding women is degrading, leading them to develop a very negative perception of women.
the negatives of social media aren't "either or" it effects everyone to some degree. Misinformation and things like that effect everyone at least a little
It affects those who think it doesn't affect them *more.* Like the dude in OP. "Those who can't think for themselves" is a weird byproduct of American individualism. It doesn't actually exist, but participating in the individualist mindset is required in the modern world. Except it's NOT individualist, and it NOT thinking for oneself.
Dude in OP is the most easily influenced by thinking he's not.
The greatest trick the devil ever played...
Inventions are improvements on the status quo. The first automobile was based on horse drawn carriages, etc. The newest, most complex things had to take some inspiration from something older and simpler.
So well said. I like to think of myself as a discerning person but group thoughts are a minefield. I can tell when something “doesn’t sound right” and I’ll look into it to verify the information is either correct or incorrect where so many other people don’t do that and will take whatever they are told at face value. That doesn’t mean I don’t fall for things sometimes. Especially now, you’ll see quotes that aren’t real attributed to people and if it doesn’t sound like something super asinine, I might just believe it without verifying. Republicans intentionally released altered videos to make political opponents look bad. With all the misinformation out there, if people don’t think they’re affected by it then they are fools probably falling for all of it.
This is how I feel. When you start looking into the behavioral science side of social media and apps you know for that OP and a lot of others are in denial.
I hate when people say some shit like this to very complicated problems. A lot of us grew up on social media, not knowing the effect it would have until it was too late. Shit we just started untangling the long-term effects it has. Understanding these effects is key to working through problems brought up by it.
Companies are actively working against ‘working through problems’ every app is now optimised for to bombard us with information and keep us addicted likely for the rest of our lives.
If you were born in 2000, you are 24 years old this year. Facebook has been online to the public (2006) since you were six. You are the social media generation and know of no other life.
> people who can't think for themselves
This isn't an inherent ability. Critical thinking is a skill that is learned and honed, like every other skill. Who is teaching it? Certainly not parents, they're biased. Schools and educators have been attacked and neutered to the point where they're unable to teach critical thinking.
Media isn't teaching us to think, it's telling us and selling us *what* to think. And then we get to social media... a torrent of shit takes that need to be weeded through just to find one salient point.
Don't blame the individuals. Most never stood a chance. Social media wouldn't be worth billions / trillions of the collective masses could think critically.
Edited to add: long before social media, regular media did a number on us too. Fashion, glamour, and magazines like playboy have given countless women self-esteem and self-worth issues since their inception. We idealized the perfect female and male bodies and if you weren't it, you struggled. Social media put that shit on steroids.
I’m not yet 24; I have like 5 months but I barely get on social media like that anymore. I don’t use facebook, instagram, Snapchat is rarely but is just to talk to people. My dad got my my first Facebook account when I was like 9 or 10ish. I used to be outside and ride my bike didn’t have many friends and still don’t.
I deleted most of my social media when COVID hit. It cause me to be virtual & I realized that I was not good at managing my time & knowing when to get off my phone to complete assignments. So I deleted FB, TikTok, and IG. I also realized that nobody is bringing the stuff that happens on social media irl. People are too worried about other things like bills, kids, etc.
# You Are Not Immune To Propaganda
Doesn't matter how much more intelligent you think you are compared to the average person, if you're barraged by misinformation and online shouting matches every day it *will* fuck you up in the long run, no matter how hard you try to convince yourself that "I'm not like them, *I'd* never fall into all that."
This.
Folks love to say “I’d never join a cult” or “I’d never do this”. Oh yes, you would. It just hasn’t been presented in a way that makes your brain latch on. But everyone falls for something. It’s apart of being human.
I stopped watching TV for a while, this was before the internet really was that big of a thing, and I realized how I thought I was immune to commercials, etc. because I was jaded. But then I realized that the TV shows themselves were commercials because everyone wore new clothes, were mostly perfect looking. I felt so good when I stopped cause I didn't feel so bad about my old car, clothes, weight, etc. We are constantly bombarded with messages that we aren't good enough and it starts when we are very young. Social media made all of that worse.
>no matter how hard you try to convince yourself that "I'm not like them, I'd never fall into all that."
and frankly? it affects you *more* the more you think "I'm not like those idiots, I'd never fall for that."
Okay you're obviously an old head who thinks hobbies hold you back from being productive. People aren't lazy or unproductive from video games they would just be lazy and unproductive. Black belt in Kung Fu and pilots license point feels like you're trolling me lmao that's so random. People can have times of down time instead of every second og their life doing something some random on reddit thinks is a "healthier interest"
I'm not really one to list myself success in life to prove a point on reddit as success to one may not be the same to someone else. I'll just say I'm working towards my goals everyday and my current life as it stands is something I'm happy with as I continue to improve. A hobby isn't what stops someone from their life sucking, being lazy and unmotivated does. Thinking that anyone who plays video games is someone who isn't making it in life is wild to me
Nope you are not comprehending what I'm saying. A trap is something that looks harmless because other people can successfully play video games and go to college and have a good career and family life. But there are people who are terribly distracted by video games and they are seriously neglecting major parts of their lives in order to play stupid games. That's the trap. The trap is you believing that it's not a trap. But hey it's your life bro You do you and I wish you the best
IMO these aren't the problems.
The problem is that people can't moderate themselves.
A little social media is fine if the filters are on and you block stuff you don't want to see. You can curate your IG and FB and YouTube to not see a lot of nonsense. It's just hard to do. But If you doom scroll and believe and react to everything you read, then thats a problem.
A little videogame escape is great! But play all day and night and neglect other duties? That's a moderation problem, not a videogame problem.
I don't think we need to ban all these things...we just need to do better in controlling how we use them.
Moderation is key.
OK I'm ready for the downvotes.
That's exactly what a trap is! The bait is something that you like and something you are naturally attracted to. But the trap is the things that feel good are not necessarily good in the long term
I'm not suggesting that at all. I'm just suggesting that you be aware of possible traps. For example, many many millions of people are able to drink alcohol safely without it destroying their lives. But some people are alcoholics and for them any amount of booze is a trap. So you can drink and understand that it has the potential to become a trap.
>Other traps include gangs drugs chasing skirts porn video games
Sounds like a bucket list to me. I'ma join a gang for the summer before I default back to video games and porn.
Appreciate the suggestion, but I'm more into gay Brazilian body builder bdsm porn. Bonus points if they have a fleshy sword fight with their cocks at some point, just for fun. That's something I can really slam my pig to.
Just something about the way they press their naked, sweaty, oily, muscular Brazilian bodies together as their tongues go at it like a couple of snakes fighting for dominance. I love the wet schmeat noises they make, too. Mmmm...
Doesn’t matter who the problem is; literally ALL the data we have shows there’s no amount of social media that’s good for anyone’s mental health under any circumstances.
The internet has literally affected society on a macro level it Has nothing to do with just being a sheep or unable to think for ourselves its deeper than than that. The internet has had major profound social and psychological effects that we still dont even know the extent of because we are some of the first generations to have grown up with it.
Silicon valley is aiming the most powerful supercomputers and algorithms ever created to persuade your friends and family to \_\_\_\_\_\_.
Fill in the blank however you'd like -- to not vaccinate their kids; to hate women; to believe the earth is flat. The list never ends, and the entire brainwashing campaign is a trojan horse operation to sell you HelloFresh ads and scrape your data for sales to the highest bidder.
Never take for granted the scope and sophistication being deployed to confuse your grandma, or radicalize your uncle. It's truly unprecedented and dystopic.
Facebook did an internal study that concluded that instagram was potentially making all young people but girls in particular suicidal
they decided to tell this information to nobody and it went on unaddressed until it was leaked years later by an insider.
similarly they are entirely aware that facebook radicalizes many people into far right fanatics and that other companies existed purely to use facebook as a propaganda machine that has undermined democratic elections in many countries, while sparking literal genocides in others. They again told nobody and for the most part did nothing because money is money. Surprise, the same harvard guy who made an app to rate female classmates as hot or not doesn’t care who is being hurt by his products
It's has a demonstrable negative impact on society. I mean, COVID wasn't that long ago. Did we forget that people legit started going nuts, and that social media was a big part of that? And leading up to that, social media ruined the election that gave us trump.
Let's not pretend that people bitching about social media don't have legitimate beef.
And that what so many of us are battling with, how many people don't want to think for themselves. We are Thor, trying to pull Loki up from the broken Bifrost, only for him to Voluntarily let go of the staff.
Eh, this is kinda true. I'm not really sure if social media is to blame for QA worsening across multiple industries or if social media itself has been ruined by late stage capitalism, but shit is worse than it used to be. Entertainment being one of the most noticeable declines, imo.
There's still plenty of great stuff out there, but it's getting more buried under a sea of mass production.
I like social media as much as the next guy, but I never treat it like it's real. The real world is so much more complicated than social media ever will be.
I will say, a lot of folks let the internet ruin their relationships only cuz they let someone with a podcast tell them how to love. Lotta folks ruined their career cuz they couldn't behave themselves. A lotta folks have ruined their life cuz they let opinions of strangers dictate how they should or shouldn't exist
I don't go on Facebook and I don't follow even my friends on Instagram because I realized I was either hating or feeling bad about my own experiences. And I for damn sure don't follow any influencers. I just subscribe to artists, athletes (who don't stunt on their followers), writers, and informational accounts related to my interests or my career. Makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable.
Nah. You can still have the ability to think for yourself and still be influenced by social media. Yall are literally doing it rn lol one niggaz tweet got yall all acting like yall are just perfect minded people.
It's literally designed to be addictive and turn your brain off. It's not really a coincidence right wing propaganda has had a global magnification. It can warp your sense of reality. I don't think people are taking this seriously enough *still*. It's how our own parents and grandparents, far too many, fell to this brain rot. They didn't think it'd affect them negatively, and when it started affecting their peers negatively they acted like they were still in control.
We're playing with fire here. You can completely cut it out of your life, and your life's choices are still going to be influenced by it. The OP ain't it.
I think alot of people forget that social media influencers are paid to influence your life. Whether they are a positive or negative influence in your life is entirely up you to based off the content you choose to watch or engage in.
Sadly people's addiction to their phone and mob mentality has blinded people from realizing the choice is ultimately on them.
The main problem seems to be the media and politicians taking what trends on social media as reality. Nothing has really changed on the internet expect now the lunatic with a blog that we all used to laugh at and roll our eyes at is now leading nationwide discussions. We need to get back to the default of, if it’s on the internet, where there are no editorial standards or liability laws, it shouldn’t be taken seriously or believed as fact.
TO: Public celebrities, sports figures, politicians, and the general public at large
SUBJECT: Twitter, InstaGram and social media in general
In case you are truly unaware, social apps are a way for the stupid to weed themselves out of careers, jobs and people's lives. Proceed at your own risk. That is all 
Surface level argument for a deep rooted problem.
Social media literally affects everyone. Even people who can think for themselves, does rely on social media to an extensive level.
Reddit is literally a social media platform.
Social media hasn’t really ruined everything, a lot of people were just awful to begin with and lacking even the most infinitesimal amount of self-awareness and this just let them put it on full display.
“Only for people that cant think for themselves”…. Which is enough people to have ruined things for the rest of us. I think thats the point of the statement haha
So majority of people. We live in a society where from childhood they sit you in a seat and tell what to think, when to go to school, what you can learn, when you can learn it, when you can use the bathroom. This world is designed for you to not think for yourself. Even the people who say they can have their opinion easily swayed if you make it sound good enough. There’s a reason hivemind and group think is a thing. If you can make a lie sound good you can manipulate a massive amount of people.
i don’t think we should understate the negative effects of brand new technologies primarily designed to profit from your attention regardless of the real life consequences
the positives of social media are obvious and demonstrated by the fact that we all still use it. You can’t even really start a business or an art project without having an instagram
but that doesn’t mean instagram didn’t make teenage girls suicidal or that they didn’t lie about knowing that for years, or that facebook hasn’t directly sparked genocides and undermined democratic elections dozens of times.
We still don’t understand fully how these things effect us but opting out isn’t as simple as “just ignore it”. Your perceptions are shaped by the content you see and the content you see is decided by a series of very successful algorithms with profit motives. The most successful businesses of all time exist right now and the product is the nature of your habits. To suggest that the mechanisms of this machine can be halted by “free thinking” is kind of ridiculous
And the last few years have taught us that a huge number of people, especially children, can't think for themselves. Pretending it's not a problem because you don't have a problem is a problem in itself.
That's everyone. There isn't anyone who is uninfluenceable. Social media has an effect on everyone who uses it, and is so ubiquitous and so integral to our economy that it effects even the people who don't use it. It's societal impacts cannot be understated, and it isn't a matter of thinking for one's self or not.
There's a bunch of people who can't critically appraise information getting their information from sources that want to weaponize them. Literally, use them as weapons.
Recently it came out the CIA ran a disinformation campaign against China regarding their vaccine safety, just as China and Russia ran similar campaigns in the US. People spread a deadly plague, and people died that shouldn't have died.
We need to care about this. Those idiots are going to kill us.
Social media isnt what it was ten years ago. You cant say that the people are the problem when so much of the stuff you get on your algorithm is personally tailored to you along with the have and the have nots. You get triggered by shit that has nothing to do you with you no matter who you are. Influencers are selling sex and their target audience is kids. You can avoid alot of nonsense and block some stuff but the algorithim will continuously reconfigurate to match your interest and disregard complaints. Its not as simple as people are making it out to be. You could have made this argument 12 years ago because back in the day you had to find things that your interested in and it wasnt really that invasive. You can block the shaderoom and whatever else that just regurgitates garbage and youd still have to deal with the algorithm. It isnt healthy however way you cut it and it continues to become more and more invasive each day
Also people need to realize how easy it is for the internet to make a loud minority seem like the general consensus
100%. And then mfs try to bring that energy in real life and mfs be looking at them like “the fuck wrong with this mf”
'Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.' –Mike Tyson I think about this often when I see what people post online.
Especially this.
LOL facts tho. I once had this younger dude try to explain to a few older women at work that they shouldnnt say something (can’t exactly remember what it was) because it would get her “cancelled” dude was 100% serious he also got that exact same “wtf” reaction
fr. So many kids are constantly exposed to the same recycled clips that portray women negatively, often labeling them as hoes. Meanwhile, content showing women in everyday, positive roles goes unnoticed because it doesn’t attract views. As a result, the majority of what these kids see regarding women is degrading, leading them to develop a very negative perception of women.
Well fucking said Same with media outlets, sensationalism sells
That part.
Bingo
It’s easy so long as it aligns with the persons already preconceived beliefs.
That’s why it’s good gotta detach from online for a while
the negatives of social media aren't "either or" it effects everyone to some degree. Misinformation and things like that effect everyone at least a little
It affects those who think it doesn't affect them *more.* Like the dude in OP. "Those who can't think for themselves" is a weird byproduct of American individualism. It doesn't actually exist, but participating in the individualist mindset is required in the modern world. Except it's NOT individualist, and it NOT thinking for oneself. Dude in OP is the most easily influenced by thinking he's not. The greatest trick the devil ever played...
In the same way that no one has ever had an original thought, no one can ever make a decision that is not influenced by another person.
If no one ever has an original thought, how do things get invented?
Inventions are improvements on the status quo. The first automobile was based on horse drawn carriages, etc. The newest, most complex things had to take some inspiration from something older and simpler.
sure but it still had to start somewhere. you don't look at a horse and see a combustion engine.
So well said. I like to think of myself as a discerning person but group thoughts are a minefield. I can tell when something “doesn’t sound right” and I’ll look into it to verify the information is either correct or incorrect where so many other people don’t do that and will take whatever they are told at face value. That doesn’t mean I don’t fall for things sometimes. Especially now, you’ll see quotes that aren’t real attributed to people and if it doesn’t sound like something super asinine, I might just believe it without verifying. Republicans intentionally released altered videos to make political opponents look bad. With all the misinformation out there, if people don’t think they’re affected by it then they are fools probably falling for all of it.
This is how I feel. When you start looking into the behavioral science side of social media and apps you know for that OP and a lot of others are in denial.
Absolutely, the whole its "your problem" thing is such an ignorant take. It has a huge fucking impact whether they like it or not.
I hate when people say some shit like this to very complicated problems. A lot of us grew up on social media, not knowing the effect it would have until it was too late. Shit we just started untangling the long-term effects it has. Understanding these effects is key to working through problems brought up by it.
Companies are actively working against ‘working through problems’ every app is now optimised for to bombard us with information and keep us addicted likely for the rest of our lives.
If you were born in 2000, you are 24 years old this year. Facebook has been online to the public (2006) since you were six. You are the social media generation and know of no other life. > people who can't think for themselves This isn't an inherent ability. Critical thinking is a skill that is learned and honed, like every other skill. Who is teaching it? Certainly not parents, they're biased. Schools and educators have been attacked and neutered to the point where they're unable to teach critical thinking. Media isn't teaching us to think, it's telling us and selling us *what* to think. And then we get to social media... a torrent of shit takes that need to be weeded through just to find one salient point. Don't blame the individuals. Most never stood a chance. Social media wouldn't be worth billions / trillions of the collective masses could think critically. Edited to add: long before social media, regular media did a number on us too. Fashion, glamour, and magazines like playboy have given countless women self-esteem and self-worth issues since their inception. We idealized the perfect female and male bodies and if you weren't it, you struggled. Social media put that shit on steroids.
Damn. I don’t have anything to add, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate this comment.
I’m not yet 24; I have like 5 months but I barely get on social media like that anymore. I don’t use facebook, instagram, Snapchat is rarely but is just to talk to people. My dad got my my first Facebook account when I was like 9 or 10ish. I used to be outside and ride my bike didn’t have many friends and still don’t.
I deleted most of my social media when COVID hit. It cause me to be virtual & I realized that I was not good at managing my time & knowing when to get off my phone to complete assignments. So I deleted FB, TikTok, and IG. I also realized that nobody is bringing the stuff that happens on social media irl. People are too worried about other things like bills, kids, etc.
# You Are Not Immune To Propaganda Doesn't matter how much more intelligent you think you are compared to the average person, if you're barraged by misinformation and online shouting matches every day it *will* fuck you up in the long run, no matter how hard you try to convince yourself that "I'm not like them, *I'd* never fall into all that."
This. Folks love to say “I’d never join a cult” or “I’d never do this”. Oh yes, you would. It just hasn’t been presented in a way that makes your brain latch on. But everyone falls for something. It’s apart of being human.
After food and shelter, social acceptance is next on the hierarchy of human needs.
I stopped watching TV for a while, this was before the internet really was that big of a thing, and I realized how I thought I was immune to commercials, etc. because I was jaded. But then I realized that the TV shows themselves were commercials because everyone wore new clothes, were mostly perfect looking. I felt so good when I stopped cause I didn't feel so bad about my old car, clothes, weight, etc. We are constantly bombarded with messages that we aren't good enough and it starts when we are very young. Social media made all of that worse.
>no matter how hard you try to convince yourself that "I'm not like them, I'd never fall into all that." and frankly? it affects you *more* the more you think "I'm not like those idiots, I'd never fall for that."
[удалено]
Video games being listed with gangs and drugs is hilarious
[удалено]
Okay you're obviously an old head who thinks hobbies hold you back from being productive. People aren't lazy or unproductive from video games they would just be lazy and unproductive. Black belt in Kung Fu and pilots license point feels like you're trolling me lmao that's so random. People can have times of down time instead of every second og their life doing something some random on reddit thinks is a "healthier interest"
[удалено]
I'm not really one to list myself success in life to prove a point on reddit as success to one may not be the same to someone else. I'll just say I'm working towards my goals everyday and my current life as it stands is something I'm happy with as I continue to improve. A hobby isn't what stops someone from their life sucking, being lazy and unmotivated does. Thinking that anyone who plays video games is someone who isn't making it in life is wild to me
Nope you are not comprehending what I'm saying. A trap is something that looks harmless because other people can successfully play video games and go to college and have a good career and family life. But there are people who are terribly distracted by video games and they are seriously neglecting major parts of their lives in order to play stupid games. That's the trap. The trap is you believing that it's not a trap. But hey it's your life bro You do you and I wish you the best
IMO these aren't the problems. The problem is that people can't moderate themselves. A little social media is fine if the filters are on and you block stuff you don't want to see. You can curate your IG and FB and YouTube to not see a lot of nonsense. It's just hard to do. But If you doom scroll and believe and react to everything you read, then thats a problem. A little videogame escape is great! But play all day and night and neglect other duties? That's a moderation problem, not a videogame problem. I don't think we need to ban all these things...we just need to do better in controlling how we use them. Moderation is key. OK I'm ready for the downvotes.
If by traps you mean “the good things in life”
That's exactly what a trap is! The bait is something that you like and something you are naturally attracted to. But the trap is the things that feel good are not necessarily good in the long term
I would probably hate myself if I only did things that were good for me
I'm not suggesting that at all. I'm just suggesting that you be aware of possible traps. For example, many many millions of people are able to drink alcohol safely without it destroying their lives. But some people are alcoholics and for them any amount of booze is a trap. So you can drink and understand that it has the potential to become a trap.
There’s no room in my heart for alcoholism because its’s already full of videogames and porn
>Other traps include gangs drugs chasing skirts porn video games Sounds like a bucket list to me. I'ma join a gang for the summer before I default back to video games and porn.
[удалено]
Appreciate the suggestion, but I'm more into gay Brazilian body builder bdsm porn. Bonus points if they have a fleshy sword fight with their cocks at some point, just for fun. That's something I can really slam my pig to. Just something about the way they press their naked, sweaty, oily, muscular Brazilian bodies together as their tongues go at it like a couple of snakes fighting for dominance. I love the wet schmeat noises they make, too. Mmmm...
Chasing skirts? Are you 90?
You ain't lying
Doesn’t matter who the problem is; literally ALL the data we have shows there’s no amount of social media that’s good for anyone’s mental health under any circumstances.
The "free thinker" responding to that tweet looks like someone who follows those toxic "alpha male" influencers
The internet has literally affected society on a macro level it Has nothing to do with just being a sheep or unable to think for ourselves its deeper than than that. The internet has had major profound social and psychological effects that we still dont even know the extent of because we are some of the first generations to have grown up with it.
Silicon valley is aiming the most powerful supercomputers and algorithms ever created to persuade your friends and family to \_\_\_\_\_\_. Fill in the blank however you'd like -- to not vaccinate their kids; to hate women; to believe the earth is flat. The list never ends, and the entire brainwashing campaign is a trojan horse operation to sell you HelloFresh ads and scrape your data for sales to the highest bidder. Never take for granted the scope and sophistication being deployed to confuse your grandma, or radicalize your uncle. It's truly unprecedented and dystopic.
Kind of a weird take to defend social media... Didn't Meta pay a bunch of fines for like, a bunch of things? They are decidedly not innocent.
Facebook did an internal study that concluded that instagram was potentially making all young people but girls in particular suicidal they decided to tell this information to nobody and it went on unaddressed until it was leaked years later by an insider. similarly they are entirely aware that facebook radicalizes many people into far right fanatics and that other companies existed purely to use facebook as a propaganda machine that has undermined democratic elections in many countries, while sparking literal genocides in others. They again told nobody and for the most part did nothing because money is money. Surprise, the same harvard guy who made an app to rate female classmates as hot or not doesn’t care who is being hurt by his products
Oh yeah... that. Jesus christ...
…I don’t think children should have access to social media.
It's has a demonstrable negative impact on society. I mean, COVID wasn't that long ago. Did we forget that people legit started going nuts, and that social media was a big part of that? And leading up to that, social media ruined the election that gave us trump. Let's not pretend that people bitching about social media don't have legitimate beef.
"Don't believe everything you read on the internet" - Lincoln
And that what so many of us are battling with, how many people don't want to think for themselves. We are Thor, trying to pull Loki up from the broken Bifrost, only for him to Voluntarily let go of the staff.
Eh, this is kinda true. I'm not really sure if social media is to blame for QA worsening across multiple industries or if social media itself has been ruined by late stage capitalism, but shit is worse than it used to be. Entertainment being one of the most noticeable declines, imo. There's still plenty of great stuff out there, but it's getting more buried under a sea of mass production.
so like... most people?
I like social media as much as the next guy, but I never treat it like it's real. The real world is so much more complicated than social media ever will be. I will say, a lot of folks let the internet ruin their relationships only cuz they let someone with a podcast tell them how to love. Lotta folks ruined their career cuz they couldn't behave themselves. A lotta folks have ruined their life cuz they let opinions of strangers dictate how they should or shouldn't exist
I don't go on Facebook and I don't follow even my friends on Instagram because I realized I was either hating or feeling bad about my own experiences. And I for damn sure don't follow any influencers. I just subscribe to artists, athletes (who don't stunt on their followers), writers, and informational accounts related to my interests or my career. Makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable.
Every time. Whenever I ask folks about all the dumb shit people did before 2004, the answer is always the same: some bullshit.
Facts
That's a lot of folks and 99.999999% of the youth So the next generation is even more messed up
Nah. You can still have the ability to think for yourself and still be influenced by social media. Yall are literally doing it rn lol one niggaz tweet got yall all acting like yall are just perfect minded people.
It's literally designed to be addictive and turn your brain off. It's not really a coincidence right wing propaganda has had a global magnification. It can warp your sense of reality. I don't think people are taking this seriously enough *still*. It's how our own parents and grandparents, far too many, fell to this brain rot. They didn't think it'd affect them negatively, and when it started affecting their peers negatively they acted like they were still in control. We're playing with fire here. You can completely cut it out of your life, and your life's choices are still going to be influenced by it. The OP ain't it.
"Only for people who can't think for themselves" So... most people?
Well children are on the Internet and being influenced because they can't yet think for themselves.
I just opened Twitter after 4 months away and suddenly felt my brain rot. Get off social media
I think alot of people forget that social media influencers are paid to influence your life. Whether they are a positive or negative influence in your life is entirely up you to based off the content you choose to watch or engage in. Sadly people's addiction to their phone and mob mentality has blinded people from realizing the choice is ultimately on them.
The main problem seems to be the media and politicians taking what trends on social media as reality. Nothing has really changed on the internet expect now the lunatic with a blog that we all used to laugh at and roll our eyes at is now leading nationwide discussions. We need to get back to the default of, if it’s on the internet, where there are no editorial standards or liability laws, it shouldn’t be taken seriously or believed as fact.
TO: Public celebrities, sports figures, politicians, and the general public at large SUBJECT: Twitter, InstaGram and social media in general In case you are truly unaware, social apps are a way for the stupid to weed themselves out of careers, jobs and people's lives. Proceed at your own risk. That is all  
Surface level argument for a deep rooted problem. Social media literally affects everyone. Even people who can think for themselves, does rely on social media to an extensive level. Reddit is literally a social media platform.
Social media hasn’t really ruined everything, a lot of people were just awful to begin with and lacking even the most infinitesimal amount of self-awareness and this just let them put it on full display.
“Only for people that cant think for themselves”…. Which is enough people to have ruined things for the rest of us. I think thats the point of the statement haha
So majority of people. We live in a society where from childhood they sit you in a seat and tell what to think, when to go to school, what you can learn, when you can learn it, when you can use the bathroom. This world is designed for you to not think for yourself. Even the people who say they can have their opinion easily swayed if you make it sound good enough. There’s a reason hivemind and group think is a thing. If you can make a lie sound good you can manipulate a massive amount of people.
you are not immune to propaganda no matter how much you think you are
i don’t think we should understate the negative effects of brand new technologies primarily designed to profit from your attention regardless of the real life consequences the positives of social media are obvious and demonstrated by the fact that we all still use it. You can’t even really start a business or an art project without having an instagram but that doesn’t mean instagram didn’t make teenage girls suicidal or that they didn’t lie about knowing that for years, or that facebook hasn’t directly sparked genocides and undermined democratic elections dozens of times. We still don’t understand fully how these things effect us but opting out isn’t as simple as “just ignore it”. Your perceptions are shaped by the content you see and the content you see is decided by a series of very successful algorithms with profit motives. The most successful businesses of all time exist right now and the product is the nature of your habits. To suggest that the mechanisms of this machine can be halted by “free thinking” is kind of ridiculous
The problem is that there are a lot of people who CAN'T think for themselves and social media is making it 1000 x worse.
And the last few years have taught us that a huge number of people, especially children, can't think for themselves. Pretending it's not a problem because you don't have a problem is a problem in itself.
That's everyone. There isn't anyone who is uninfluenceable. Social media has an effect on everyone who uses it, and is so ubiquitous and so integral to our economy that it effects even the people who don't use it. It's societal impacts cannot be understated, and it isn't a matter of thinking for one's self or not.
It has irreversibly changed our brains. Its not all or nothinb but it's definitely valid to say that.
There's a bunch of people who can't critically appraise information getting their information from sources that want to weaponize them. Literally, use them as weapons. Recently it came out the CIA ran a disinformation campaign against China regarding their vaccine safety, just as China and Russia ran similar campaigns in the US. People spread a deadly plague, and people died that shouldn't have died. We need to care about this. Those idiots are going to kill us.
Zola speakin truth
Social media isnt what it was ten years ago. You cant say that the people are the problem when so much of the stuff you get on your algorithm is personally tailored to you along with the have and the have nots. You get triggered by shit that has nothing to do you with you no matter who you are. Influencers are selling sex and their target audience is kids. You can avoid alot of nonsense and block some stuff but the algorithim will continuously reconfigurate to match your interest and disregard complaints. Its not as simple as people are making it out to be. You could have made this argument 12 years ago because back in the day you had to find things that your interested in and it wasnt really that invasive. You can block the shaderoom and whatever else that just regurgitates garbage and youd still have to deal with the algorithm. It isnt healthy however way you cut it and it continues to become more and more invasive each day
This reminds me of the new god called “social media” in the show American gods. He would sabotage and ruin everything.