Won’t someone PLEASE think about the CONSTITUTION!

Trump spent four years breaking the law and Biden spent four years not putting his ass in jail. Meanwhile, you’ve NYPD officers putting bullets into the heads of people adjacent to turnstill jumpers. You’ve got paramilitary raids on college campuses and suburban neighbors to thrash peaceful protesters. You’ve got pipeline companies stealing property with the government’s blessing, while locals blocking the illegal construction are sprayed with tear gas. You’ve got a billionaire actively buying votes three weeks before an election, while the FEC twiddles its thumbs. You’ve got illegal overseas occupation of territory from Okinawa to Al Anbar to Guantanamo Bay. You’ve got a SCOTUS that’s taking bribes to issue rulings and Congressmen taking bribes to write laws and Governors taking bribes to turn over public property to private interests.

Whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist.

who feel superior to those that like one form of media over their preferred media

I don’t watch the TikToks. I get my information from a source I know I can trust.

What benefits does federation offer the user? How does the recommendation algorithm give users what they want? How will a decentralised platform perform the kind of centralised events a platform like TikTok is known for?

I might argue that the ability to curate your own content, rather than being plugged into the Main Feed that just front-loads whatever the highest bidder wants shoved into your eyeballs, is a relative improvement to the current Facebook/Google ad-supported algorithm model.

But in the end, it just gives more weight to advertisers and influencers. You have to lure people into subscribing (like old school newspapers/radio/TV had to do) rather than buying visual real estate directly in their eye-line. You’re still going to have InfoWars and Drudge Report and Joe Rogan tier content. Its just something you’re going to be baited into opting into rather than struggling to opt out of.

But it will keep you using the Fediverse as a model longer, because you feel like you’ve got a degree of control (I don’t have to listen to Rogan if I don’t want to). Whereas services like YouTube and Facebook are forcing their users to choose between getting injected with the cheapest, hackeyest swill or to switching providers.

it drains our energy and motivation

All this time, I thought the daily grind of employment - consuming 8-12 hours of my day for someone else’s profit - was what exhausted my free time, limited my opportunities for socializing, and drained my enthusiasm for local organizing. Turns out it was the fifteen minutes of free time between meetings checking current events that was to blame.

It’s like digital weed

So its palliative care for our lack of comprehensive healthcare, but even less effective at the job?

TikTok is popular because it’s addicting, not because it’s useful

TikTok is profitable because it is addictive. But the idea that short-form video is less useful than print or radio is flawed.

I don’t understand why anyone would use this.

For the same reason someone would turn on the TV, download a podcast, or pick up a magazine.

Social media isn’t bad inherently. Addictive algorithms, violation of user privacy, etc. is bad.

Cigarettes aren’t bad for you. It’s just the burning tar and the nicotine.

How hard up are you for Facebook? Like, there’s a technical solution, sure. But a big part of social media’s addictive quality is ease of access.

Making access annoying absolutely will curb teen use.