In a previous thread, I got called out for asking a loaded question regarding the complete degeneration of human society on social platforms, specifically Facebook and Twitter. Conveniently, this article today highlights my point.
No society is not degenerating we just have the wrong social tools available to us. Yes, there are nasty people all over. Some are always trolls by choice some are trolls but don't really know it, trolls by accident you might say. I argue that they are the minority by a long shot. Unfortunately, social media amplifies their voices to the point of domination.
Mr. Sheeran quit Twitter because of trolls but from the fact that he's a popular singer, we know that he has many more fans that love him than people that dislike him. Yet, he was overwhelmed by the trolls.
In the same way that we would never tolerate someone yelling disparages at someone else in real life we need to find tools that will minimise that in social media.
Unfortunately Twitter finds it more advantageous to let things be as they are than to minimise the antisocial behaviour of their users by enforcing social norms of civilised behaviour.
So it's not society falling apart but it's social media not policing itself properly. That's what needs to get fixed.
Except it's not about "civil behaviour", politeness and courtesy. It's about large scale criminal behaviour specifically targeting of minorities and women.
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[ 0.18 ms ] story [ 141 ms ] threadMr. Sheeran quit Twitter because of trolls but from the fact that he's a popular singer, we know that he has many more fans that love him than people that dislike him. Yet, he was overwhelmed by the trolls.
In the same way that we would never tolerate someone yelling disparages at someone else in real life we need to find tools that will minimise that in social media.
Unfortunately Twitter finds it more advantageous to let things be as they are than to minimise the antisocial behaviour of their users by enforcing social norms of civilised behaviour.
So it's not society falling apart but it's social media not policing itself properly. That's what needs to get fixed.