From d5bfc8840746df1667a0d20925afced557afcf53 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Robby Zambito Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2020 08:59:23 -0500 Subject: Added some photos, updated theme, moved posts around, started working on new post --- ...deleting-social-media-with-algorithmic-feeds.md | 53 ---------------------- 1 file changed, 53 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 content/posts/deleting-social-media-with-algorithmic-feeds.md (limited to 'content/posts/deleting-social-media-with-algorithmic-feeds.md') diff --git a/content/posts/deleting-social-media-with-algorithmic-feeds.md b/content/posts/deleting-social-media-with-algorithmic-feeds.md deleted file mode 100644 index 12d08a9..0000000 --- a/content/posts/deleting-social-media-with-algorithmic-feeds.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,53 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: "Deleting Social Media with Algorithmic Feeds" -date: 2020-11-03T06:01:51-05:00 -draft: false -tags: [personal, social-media, pleroma, activitypub] -description: "About a month ago I decided to deactivate my Facebook account, and to uninstall Snapchat, Instagram, and Slide for ..." ---- - -### 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. - -- cgit