Lemmy is an infinite feed of empty bitesized content. It may not have a purpose in feeding you, but it does all the same. Or what do you mean by “feeding”? I interpret that as presenting you with the mental equivalent of empty calories. It’s not motivated by ad money to do so, but that doesn’t mean it’s not motivated, or that it even needs motivation to do so. In fact, Lemmy is largely just a reddit clone, so simply by copying reddit it inherited many of the UX design choices.
All social networks, including federated platforms, use “algorithms” to surface content. The algorithm that Lemmy uses is very simple, but using a more complex algorithm is not inherently bad. People use “algorithm” as some kind of boogyman word without understanding it or considering what it means.
To not be a hypocrite you should treat all social networks with a similar critical eye. I’m not gonna say that they’re all equally evil, but when you criticize something that other people like, then you should be willing and even eager to turn that same eye on the things you like.
I am concerned about those things. I do very little about it. It’s a cost I just have to be aware of when I use these services. Specifically wrt social networks I stopped using the ones that don’t bring me enjoyment.
Wrt Tiktok specifically, I find it less predatory than the other for profit platforms, but I don’t blame people for not using it if they don’t like it. I just check myself before I say anything elitist about social networks preferences
Lemmy is an infinite feed of empty bitesized content.
Would that mean that your point is that every social media platform is full of empty content? I would agree that the internet in general is somewhat empty now, but objectively speaking TikTok short video format is not meant for rich content so that would make it the more “empty” that any other social platform.
I have to ask you what platform are not an “infinite feed of empty bitesized content” to understand better your point perhaps.
Or what do you mean by “feeding”?
I mean that the platform traps people by encouraging/pushing you to keep scrolling for the next high. Just like one would feed a cow or pig, to later harvest a better product. Ever since I stopped using Facebook, Instagram and the likes my time spent on social media decreased abysmally.
As you said Lemmy also feeds content, but what it does not do is insert suggested content within your selections(feeds). If I sort by “All” all posts appear, “Local” for all local posts and “Subscribed” for my personal selection, all of those are sorted chronologically and in none will be a “Suggested Post or Advertisement”. Granted I do filter (skip) posts in my subscription but not regularly, just like anyone would skipping pages on a newspaper. And as you said, nothing inherently wrong with automatic topic filtering, that is a great feature to have I would love if Lemmy would have a automatic topic or tag filter. That all good and dandy but when is driven by interest in revenue it becomes more of a nuisance and possibly a harmful addiction specially when they remove the option to filter by time. Have to say that nothing against advertisements, businesses need to generate revenue and that is fine.
As for user content communities might be incentivized to attract and “feed” but that is not the platform doing it.
I just check myself before I say anything elitist about social networks preferences
I would like for anyone to join Lemmy or whatever platform that does not suck on your blood, I do not think any better of me for using Lemmy or a different content format and I would like to share whatever I have with the world. If Lemmy is and elitist platform I would not know anything about it and most certainly take no part in it. To be honest I do not know what this elitism you mention is coming from.
When I say “I see TikTok, I dislike” it is because of the harm it does to people and most definitely not aimed towards the people using it. It breaks my heart every time I see people with their neck crooked scrolling endlessly in TikTok, I see this everyday in the subway, in the street and everywhere. Kids and even elderly people suffering the effects of it. I really hope this ends someday, and if you think it is not that serious I would encourage you to check the amount of hours a kid spends on TikTok(not saying they would spend any time at all on the phone if it wasn’t for TikTok but TikTok obviously does not help at all). Not to mention TikTok knows all the harm it does but could not give a shit.
I had a whole big response, but I’m rewriting it because it was too combative.
Generally, in your response the impression I get is that you’re just mostly uninformed about the content available on Tiktok. What do you think the content looks like there? I get the feeling you think it’s mostly 10 seconds dance videos and videos like what are shown in this post. It’s not.
My Lemmy feed is vapid in comparison to my Tiktok feed. For example, I’ve learned more about CRT and intersectionality and living with disabilities, on Tiktok than I have anywhere else. It’s full of nuanced videos a few minutes long, by creators from a variety of backgrounds, covering topics I’d never have thought to look into myself.
The “algorithm” boogyman that folks here cry about is it’s best feature. It’s introducing me to new content and ideas I’d otherwise never be exposed to, because it doesn’t keep me locked into a handful of topics I’ve selected myself.
I don’t expect everyone’s feed to be packed full of educational content like mine, and I do still get (and enjoy) silly videos, just like I enjoy the [email protected] channel here. But the content is there, and there is far more of it, and it is of higher quality, than here.
Wrt harm, the non-profit networks are probably the least harmful, but also the least interesting and educational.
Tiktok is probably the least harmful for-profit network I’m aware of (maybe bluesky, but it’s still in the expand-at-all-costs phase). It would go so far as to inject “go touch grass” video reminders into your feed if you were scrolling too long.
The willingness for people to villainize Tiktok without reflecting on their own favorite social networks makes me suspicious of their motives and biases.
Lemmy is an infinite feed of empty bitesized content. It may not have a purpose in feeding you, but it does all the same. Or what do you mean by “feeding”? I interpret that as presenting you with the mental equivalent of empty calories. It’s not motivated by ad money to do so, but that doesn’t mean it’s not motivated, or that it even needs motivation to do so. In fact, Lemmy is largely just a reddit clone, so simply by copying reddit it inherited many of the UX design choices.
All social networks, including federated platforms, use “algorithms” to surface content. The algorithm that Lemmy uses is very simple, but using a more complex algorithm is not inherently bad. People use “algorithm” as some kind of boogyman word without understanding it or considering what it means.
To not be a hypocrite you should treat all social networks with a similar critical eye. I’m not gonna say that they’re all equally evil, but when you criticize something that other people like, then you should be willing and even eager to turn that same eye on the things you like.
I am concerned about those things. I do very little about it. It’s a cost I just have to be aware of when I use these services. Specifically wrt social networks I stopped using the ones that don’t bring me enjoyment.
Wrt Tiktok specifically, I find it less predatory than the other for profit platforms, but I don’t blame people for not using it if they don’t like it. I just check myself before I say anything elitist about social networks preferences
Would that mean that your point is that every social media platform is full of empty content? I would agree that the internet in general is somewhat empty now, but objectively speaking TikTok short video format is not meant for rich content so that would make it the more “empty” that any other social platform.
I have to ask you what platform are not an “infinite feed of empty bitesized content” to understand better your point perhaps.
I mean that the platform traps people by encouraging/pushing you to keep scrolling for the next high. Just like one would feed a cow or pig, to later harvest a better product. Ever since I stopped using Facebook, Instagram and the likes my time spent on social media decreased abysmally.
As you said Lemmy also feeds content, but what it does not do is insert suggested content within your selections(feeds). If I sort by “All” all posts appear, “Local” for all local posts and “Subscribed” for my personal selection, all of those are sorted chronologically and in none will be a “Suggested Post or Advertisement”. Granted I do filter (skip) posts in my subscription but not regularly, just like anyone would skipping pages on a newspaper. And as you said, nothing inherently wrong with automatic topic filtering, that is a great feature to have I would love if Lemmy would have a automatic topic or tag filter. That all good and dandy but when is driven by interest in revenue it becomes more of a nuisance and possibly a harmful addiction specially when they remove the option to filter by time. Have to say that nothing against advertisements, businesses need to generate revenue and that is fine.
As for user content communities might be incentivized to attract and “feed” but that is not the platform doing it.
I would like for anyone to join Lemmy or whatever platform that does not suck on your blood, I do not think any better of me for using Lemmy or a different content format and I would like to share whatever I have with the world. If Lemmy is and elitist platform I would not know anything about it and most certainly take no part in it. To be honest I do not know what this elitism you mention is coming from.
When I say “I see TikTok, I dislike” it is because of the harm it does to people and most definitely not aimed towards the people using it. It breaks my heart every time I see people with their neck crooked scrolling endlessly in TikTok, I see this everyday in the subway, in the street and everywhere. Kids and even elderly people suffering the effects of it. I really hope this ends someday, and if you think it is not that serious I would encourage you to check the amount of hours a kid spends on TikTok(not saying they would spend any time at all on the phone if it wasn’t for TikTok but TikTok obviously does not help at all). Not to mention TikTok knows all the harm it does but could not give a shit.
I had a whole big response, but I’m rewriting it because it was too combative.
Generally, in your response the impression I get is that you’re just mostly uninformed about the content available on Tiktok. What do you think the content looks like there? I get the feeling you think it’s mostly 10 seconds dance videos and videos like what are shown in this post. It’s not.
My Lemmy feed is vapid in comparison to my Tiktok feed. For example, I’ve learned more about CRT and intersectionality and living with disabilities, on Tiktok than I have anywhere else. It’s full of nuanced videos a few minutes long, by creators from a variety of backgrounds, covering topics I’d never have thought to look into myself.
The “algorithm” boogyman that folks here cry about is it’s best feature. It’s introducing me to new content and ideas I’d otherwise never be exposed to, because it doesn’t keep me locked into a handful of topics I’ve selected myself.
I don’t expect everyone’s feed to be packed full of educational content like mine, and I do still get (and enjoy) silly videos, just like I enjoy the [email protected] channel here. But the content is there, and there is far more of it, and it is of higher quality, than here.
Wrt harm, the non-profit networks are probably the least harmful, but also the least interesting and educational.
Tiktok is probably the least harmful for-profit network I’m aware of (maybe bluesky, but it’s still in the expand-at-all-costs phase). It would go so far as to inject “go touch grass” video reminders into your feed if you were scrolling too long.
The willingness for people to villainize Tiktok without reflecting on their own favorite social networks makes me suspicious of their motives and biases.
I think we agree that social media in general can harmful but it does not seems that way on the rest. So lets leave it at that.