hey! here is my take on the state of the modern internet and what we can do to improve it. —
NOTE: This is a WORK IN PROGRESS. IT IS NOT FINISHED.
Of the current state of the internet
The internet is not just a product anymore. The internet is turning us into the product. The past decade has seen large corporations turning us into profit machines. User data is sold and used as data to fuel advertisement campaigns and algorithms that pour and endless stream of biased content into our faces. The modern internet is filled with censorship, “political correctness”, and corporate hell where websites are stripped of personality. Short-form, addictive algorithms and content are wasting the lives of teenagers and children in the most developed and advanced countries. Those that are aware of the privacy issues of social media are unable to distance themselves from the algorithm because it would mean breaking away from normal social interaction with friends and family. Some governments use the internet as a means of control over their population, making their population dependent on it for daily life. Modern social media, filled with “likes” and “subscriptions” encourage content creators to ignore the consequences of their actions and focus purely on audience engagement and attention.
Of what the internet should be
The internet should be a place for free self-expression, free access to information and software, free, uncensored, unmonitored (yet respectful!) communication with anyone, NO control by ANY corporation, and PURELY governed by the USERS.
Regarding modern, mainstream social media
Short-form video content
I am particularly infuriated by the growth of TikTok and its content format because of how addictive it truly is. Every relevant social media app has recognized the power and potential of video “shorts”, which TikTok pioneered. For those not familiar, “shorts” refer to a type of video entertainment where the videos are at most 1-2 minutes long. Usually, “shorts” are presented in an endless fashion – simply scroll down to view the next video, double tap to like, tap another button to follow, etc etc. TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and many more social media services are implementing “shorts” to improve user retention and advertisement viewership. And this works. Shorts are convenient and addictive, capturing the user with the promise of an infinite feed of relevant and interesting content.
Issue #1: Data Privacy
There is a reason why TikTok can stay completely free. It’s recommendation algorithm is just so powerful that it can learn your interests, hobbies, and even political biases to give you the content that you would be most interested watching. This data is then given to advertisers to promote relevant ads/products as you watch the videos. This is why TikTok can stay completely free. The users are the source of income. There is no regard for the privacy of your data. [cite: tosdr, tiktok] [cite: tosdr, snapchat] [cite: tosdr, youtube] [cite: tosdr, instagram]
Issue #2: Addictive content
I have more of a problem with the form of the content itself rather than the actual content. The issue is that the user knows there will always be good content as they continue scrolling. [a good explanation on the science behind tiktok addiction]. TikTok’s algorithm just offers a substantial burst of pleasure/satisfaction every time a video is watched. This boost of pleasure keeps the user wanting to watch more and more, leading to (perhaps) hours of productive time wasted. It also leaves the user wanting to watch more, making the user more and more dependent on this type of instant-gratification content.
Censorship, political correctness, and cancel culture
No social media service should censor anything. People should be allowed to express themselves on social media. Keep in the mind that the very fundamental goal of social media is ease of communication, not ease of “politically correct” communication. Social media should be a reflection of our real-life communication, not a way for governments or corporations to control what we say. A true social media service does one thing only: to allow for efficient communication between multiple parties. That’s it.
Even if someone spreads disinformation that may harm others, no one should be using social media as a credible/reliable source of information. This may sound harsh, but those that use Twitter as a source of news without checking other reputable independent source(s) of information probably deserve to be harmed by whatever misinformation they come across. Social media is a place for opinions, which are/should not be backed by any evidence. It completely valid to post COVID-19 conspiracies without being censored or “shadowbanned”. In contrast, a source of information such as Wikipedia is a much more reputable source of information because facts are reviewed by the community/many other users, there are talk pages that discuss different POVs of the information, and articles have warnings/”citation needed tags” if the information may be biased/inaccurate/without citation.