Hard agree. For all it’s flaws, Twitter is still awesome
Daring Fireball · daringfireball.net ↗X Once Again Marks the SpotIf you returned from exile on a desert island and took a look at X today for first time in a year, you might reasonably guess that Elon Musk got bored and sold it while you were away.
“Rage economy” is a really nice framing:
Indonesia will ban social media for children under 16, the communication and digital affairs minister says.
Read the note →The backlash against social media is gaining ground. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are widespread bans across the world in some shape or form in the next couple of years.
An interesting take on the issue:
China knows exactly what this does. Their domestic version of TikTok caps kids under 14 at 40 minutes a day, locks access between 6am and 10pm, and swaps the entire feed to educational content. Science, history, museums.
The version they export to everyone else? Unlimited, unrestricted, pure dopamine on demand.
When kids in the US and China were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, the number one answer in America was influencer. In China it was astronaut.
Macron calls this a cognitive war. Export what dulls young minds and keep what makes them intelligent for your own population.
This is the most effective weapon ever deployed against a generation’s ability to think.
Social media platforms are easy to ban but it’s hard to enforce the ban.
Read the note →In praise of solitude.
Read the note →Stupidity is Lindy.
Read the note →Human psychology is eminently hackable.
Read the note →
Finland is considering banning social media access for children under 15.
The concerns over social media, and in particular the effects on children, have been well-documented — but Finnish researcher Silja Kosola’s recent description of the phenomenon as an “uncontrolled human experiment” has grabbed people’s attention once again.
Kosola, an associate professor in adolescent medicine, has researched the impact of social media on young people, and tells Yle News that the consequences are not very well understood.
“We see a rise in self-harm and especially eating disorders. We see a big separation in the values of young girls and boys, which is also a big problem in society,” Kosola explains.
100% agree with Carette Antonin. Social media platforms are awash with bullshit claims that are tenuously tied to “some truth” floating free without context accumulating eyeballs and engagement like a snowball turning into an avalanche: This pattern of “hype first and context later” is actually part of a growing trend.…
Read the note →François Chollet: Social media is the sedative that makes us forget we ever had freedom and agency. You can just do things, but first you have to close the app.
This entire year has been a case me rediscovering the fact that I can just do things. All you need is orient your inner compass towards fun and then run in that direction.
Kpaxs: Social media consume us, not the other way around.