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diff --git a/content/posts/deleting-social-media-with-algorithmic-feeds.md b/content/posts/deleting-social-media-with-algorithmic-feeds.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d71860a --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/deleting-social-media-with-algorithmic-feeds.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +--- +title: "Deleting Social Media with Algorithmic Feeds" +date: 2020-11-03T06:01:51-05:00 +draft: false +tags: [personal, social media, pleroma, activitypub] +--- + +### Algorithmic feeds are designed with a purpose, to make consumers behave in ways that they otherwise wouldn't. + +About a month ago I decided to deactivate my Facebook account, and to uninstall Snapchat, Instagram, and Slide for Reddit from my phone. +I did this because I felt like I was not using the internet on my own terms anymore. I felt (and still do) that handing the power to +curate everything I see over to black boxes such as the ones I listed was not healthy for me. As a consumer of algorithmic feeds, you +are not allowed to view, let alone control the system that decides what kind of information you see. + +As an example, if you wanted to use Instagram as a way to show you content that makes you happy, the most you can do is aggressively +suggest to the system that it should show you that content, by searching for it and following users who regularly post related content. +For the last 2 years or so, I have tried to exclusively use Instagram for looking up dog photos, videos, and memes, and sharing them +with a group chat of my friends. Despite this, I still would have content in my feed that did not align with my desires, such as political +content, or other content that would evoke strong emotional responses from me. + +As an experiment, I didn't tell anyone that I was deleting the social media apps that I listed above before doing it. I wasn't sure what +kind of response I would get from those around me for doing this, if any. The first person to notice anything was my girlfriend, +who noticed that she couldn't see my Facebook page. I told her that I decided to deactivate my account, and that was that. To be fair +though, I haven't really been using Facebook for many years, so I figure most people haven't noticed my page is missing. Snapchat +on the other hand has been a little different. I didn't look into seeing if I could deactivate my account without deleting it, so my +account is still accessible to people. I think this may have caused some confusion, since people might be thinking that I'm ignoring +them. A friend of mine said that he sent something, and I told him that I haven't had Snapchat installed for a while now. Again, that has +been that as far as my life without Snapchat. + +There is this idea that you need to have an algorithm to curate content for you, or else it will be boring. After using my own Pleroma +instance as my primary social media platform since July, I can tell you first hand that you do not need to have a timeline showing +content in any order other than chronological in order to have meaningful conversation. In fact, I feel like I have been able to have +healthier discussions with people of different backgrounds, since I am not being artificially confined to my own bubble. I'm also in +complete control over the content that appears in my feed. If I decide that I don't want to see content from someone anymore, if I stop +following them, my server won't show me their content unless I look for it. My feed on Pleroma is strictly a chronological timeline of +posts from the people that I follow, and that is great. + |