| Tech Support
|
[
Tech Support ] [ Main Menu ] |
|
|
|
3771 |
|
|
Date: December 24, 2014 at 08:01:07
From: mr bopp, [DNS_Address]
Subject: How Facebook Killed the Internet |
URL: http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/24/how-facebook-killed-the-internet/ |
|
merry christmas boppers...
The Age of Informational Entropy
by DAVID ROVICS
Facebook killed the internet, and I’m pretty sure that the vast majority of people didn’t even notice.
I can see the look on many of your faces, and hear the thoughts. Someone’s complaining about Facebook again. Yes, I know it’s a massive corporation, but it’s the platform we’re all using. It’s like complaining about Starbucks. After all the independent cafes have been driven out of town and you’re an espresso addict, what to do? What do you mean “killed”? What was killed?
I’ll try to explain. I’ll start by saying that I don’t know what the solution is. But I think any solution has to start with solidly identifying the nature of the problem.
First of all, Facebook killed the internet, but if it wasn’t Facebook, it would have been something else. The evolution of social media was probably as inevitable as the development of cell phones that could surf the internet. It was the natural direction for the internet to go in.
Which is why it’s so especially disturbing. Because the solution is not Znet or Ello. The solution is not better social media, better algorithms, or social media run by a nonprofit rather than a multibillion-dollar corporation. Just as the solution to the social alienation caused by everybody having their own private car is not more electric vehicles. Just as the solution to the social alienation caused by everyone having their own cell phone to stare at is not a collectively-owned phone company.
Many people from the grassroots to the elites are thrilled about the social media phenomenon. Surely some of the few people who will read this are among them. We throw around phrases like “Facebook revolution” and we hail these new internet platforms that are bringing people together all over the world. And I’m not suggesting they don’t have their various bright sides. Nor am I suggesting you should stop using social media platforms, including Facebook. That would be like telling someone in Texas they should bike to work, when the whole infrastructure of every city in the state is built for sports utility vehicles.
But we should understand the nature of what is happening to us.
From the time that newspapers became commonplace up until the early 1990’s, for the overwhelming majority of the planet’s population, the closest we came to writing in a public forum were the very few of us who ever bothered to write a letter to the editor. A tiny, tiny fraction of the population were authors or journalists who had a public forum that way on an occasional or a regular basis, depending. Some people wrote up the pre-internet equivalent of an annual Christmas-time blog post which they photocopied and sent around to a few dozen friends and relatives.
In the 1960s there was a massive flowering of independent, “underground” press in towns and cities across the US and other countries. There was a vastly increased diversity of views and information that could be easily accessed by anyone who lived near a university and could walk to a news stand and had an extra few cents to spend.
In the 1990s, with the development of the internet – websites, email lists – there was an explosion of communication that made the underground press of the 60’s pale in comparison. Most people in places like the US virtually stopped using phones (to actually talk on), from my experience. Many people who never wrote letters or much of anything else started using computers and writing emails to each other, and even to multiple people at once.
Those very few of us who were in the habit in the pre-internet era of sending around regular newsletters featuring our writing, our thoughts, our list of upcoming gigs, products or services we were trying to sell, etc., were thrilled with the advent of email, and the ability to send our newsletters out so easily, without spending a fortune on postage stamps, without spending so much time stuffing envelopes. For a brief period of time, we had access to the same audience, the same readers we had before, but now we could communicate with them virtually for free.
This, for many of us, was the internet’s golden age – 1995-2005 or so. There was the increasing problem of spam of various sorts. Like junk mail, only more of it. Spam filters started getting better, and largely eliminated that problem for most of us.
The listservs that most of us bothered to read were moderated announcements lists. The websites we used the most were interactive, but moderated, such as Indymedia. In cities throughout the world, big and small, there were local Indymedia collectives. Anyone could post stuff, but there were actual people deciding whether it should get published, and if so, where. As with any collective decision-making process, this was challenging, but many of us felt it was a challenge that was worth the effort. As a result of these moderated listservs and moderated Indymedia sites, we all had an unprecedented ability to find out about and discuss ideas and events that were taking place in our cities, our countries, our world.
Then came blogging, and social media. Every individual with a blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc., became their own individual broadcaster. It’s intoxicating, isn’t it? Knowing that you have a global audience of dozens or hundreds, maybe thousands of people (if you’re famous to begin with, or something goes viral) every time you post something. Being able to have conversations in the comments sections with people from around the world who will never physically meet each other. Amazing, really.
But then most people stopped listening. Most people stopped visiting Indymedia. Indymedia died, globally, for the most part. Newspapers – right, left and center – closed, and are closing, whether offline or online ones. Listservs stopped existing. Algorithms replaced moderators. People generally began to think of librarians as an antiquated phenomenon.
Now, in Portland, Oregon, one of the most politically plugged-in cities in the US, there is no listserv or website you can go to that will tell you what is happening in the city in any kind of readable, understandable format. There are different groups with different websites, Facebook pages, listservs, etc., but nothing for the progressive community as a whole. Nothing functional, anyway. Nothing that approaches the functionality of the announcements lists that existed in cities and states throughout the country 15 years ago.
Because of the technical limitations of the internet for a brief period of time, there was for a few years a happy medium found between a small elite providing most of the written content that most people in the world read, and the situation we now find ourselves in, drowning in Too Much Information, most of it meaningless drivel, white noise, fog that prevents you from seeing anywhere further than the low beams can illuminate at a given time.
It was a golden age, but for the most part an accidental one, and a very brief one. As it became easy for people to start up a website, a blog, a Myspace or Facebook page, to post updates, etc., the new age of noise began, inevitably, the natural evolution of the technology.
And most people didn’t notice that it happened.
Why do I say that? First of all, I didn’t just come up with this shit. I’ve been talking to a lot of people for many years, and a lot of people think social media is the best thing since sliced bread. And why shouldn’t they?
The bottom line is, there’s no reason most people would have had occasion to notice that the internet died, because they weren’t content providers (as we call authors, artists, musicians, journalists, organizers, public speakers, teachers, etc. these days) in the pre-internet age or during the first decade or so of the internet as a popular phenomenon. And if you weren’t a content provider back then, why would you know that anything changed?
I and others like me know – because the people who used to read and respond to stuff I sent out on my email list aren’t there anymore. They don’t open the emails anymore, and if they do, they don’t read them. And it doesn’t matter what medium I use – blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Of course some people do, but most people are now doing other things.
What are they doing? I spent most of last week in Tokyo, going all over town, spending hours each day on the trains. Most people sitting in the trains back during my first visit to Japan in 2007 were sleeping, as they are now. But those who weren’t sleeping, seven years ago, were almost all reading books. Now, there’s hardly a book to be seen. Most people are looking at their phones. And they’re not reading books on their phones. (Yes, I peeked. A lot.) They’re playing games or, more often, looking at their Facebook “news feeds.” And it’s the same in the US and everywhere else that I have occasion to travel to.
Is it worth it to replace moderators with algorithms? Editors with white noise? Investigative journalists with pictures of your cat? Independent record labels and community radio stations with a multitude of badly-recorded podcasts? Independent Media Center collectives with a million Facebook updates and Twitter feeds?
I think not. But that’s where we’re at. How do we get out of this situation, and clear the fog, and use our brains again? I wish I knew.
|
|
|
|
|
Responses:
[3789] [3777] [3772] [3790] [3791] [3793] [3794] [3792] |
|
3789 |
|
|
Date: February 09, 2015 at 15:32:12
From: marja, [DNS_Address]
Subject: that article is false |
|
|
indicating " we all use facebook " lol, I could be less interested of any of it....
the way I see it, it's a massive entity harvesting personal information and the idiots who willingly put it out there....
some of my friends are CEO's in silicon valley, none of them EVER use facebook, -I had a talk about it all with a friend the other day, he is stanford educated, a VERY smart man, we totally agree about the nonsense and how people waste their time on such BS.....
|
|
|
|
|
Responses:
None |
|
3777 |
|
|
Date: January 22, 2015 at 11:49:08
From: Quartz, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: How Facebook Killed the Internet |
|
|
The author is writing for the Golden Age, not the quick byte age of
today.
Ironically, given the subject matter, I have to admit that being at work, I
only skimmed most of it, but I agree with what I skimmed.
I do have Facebook, and it seems that Twitter may become a required
platform for work, so I recently started an account there, though I find
it almost painful to look at.
Years ago on a site like this forum people would have more frequently
posted in paragraphs, actually writing out posts on a far more frequent
basis.
It's frustrating to me to see a twitterbyte posting linked to a video, or
just a link to a video. I want to know the thought process of the person
who posted, or at least see evidence that they are thinking, rather than
just passing on the latest propaganda from their favorite speaker.
I won't name names (I don't remember them offhand), but there are a
few people here, on Facebook, on other forums, who on different days
post totally contradictory things, backing them passionately each time,
being convinced of an argument in the moment without even stopping
to think of the argument posted a short time ago. I've occasionally
caught myself doing the same.
Like others, too, I've become worse and worse at reading long posts,
and much as I gripe when other people do it, I also tend to miss
important things in reading a longer post and thus sometimes like
others, get things altogether backward. Or just missing a key piece of
information that's right in front of my face.
It's disturbing to see the cognitive decline in others. It's even more
disturbing when I watch it take place in myself.
Internet aside, I watch it take place with facetalk too. So many
misunderstandings at work, repeating the same pieces of information
over and over, face to face, in email, in other written formats...and yet
people almost seem to willfully misunderstand each other and become
confused. And they don't even realize they're doing it. I noticed this
starting up sporadically over a decade ago, but now I see it happening
every few hours, people growing frustrated because they talk past,
can't understand each other, even on painfully basic issues.
Part of it is the media shifts. Part of it I'm sure is due to altogether
other causes (I'm in the camp that is fairly certain that it's partly due to
degradation of the food supply and increasing pollution, but it's hard t
be certain).
All I know is that whatever is going on with people's minds, including
my own, is terrifying.
|
|
|
|
|
Responses:
None |
|
3772 |
|
|
Date: December 24, 2014 at 19:48:57
From: Phil in Los Angeles , [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: How Facebook Killed the Internet |
|
|
I don't do Facebook or Twitter and sometimes I wonder what I'm
doing on here. -;)
|
|
|
|
|
Responses:
[3790] [3791] [3793] [3794] [3792] |
|
3790 |
|
|
Date: February 11, 2015 at 23:59:26
From: Eve in FL, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: How Facebook Killed the Internet |
|
|
I have never signed up for Facebook, twitter, and many other new icon
named thingies that I have no clue what they are, similar I suppose.
I have ended up almost signing onto Facebook as I was looking for a
purebred kitten and it was to ask a question or get regular info, they
wanted to correspond via Facebook. I stopped myself though and said,
not worth it, I resisted this long. So odd folks are seemingly suspicious if
one does not twitter or have a Facebook...oh and in the business world
it's LinkedIn. I know someone one there who I could read accolades
without signing up and the things they claim to be expert at they
certainly are not. Also knowing them personally and how they changed
their name...I have three stories on the name change...it's according to
how this one feels or what they are attempting to achieve....Facebook,
LinkedIn...do not mean they are who they say they are or have the
experience they claim. This one had no college degree, wrote a book on
a certain disease found in children...declared themselves and expert in
nutrition...and this ones favorite meal is pigs in a blanket and baked
beans.
Then the name change...it's a name I have seen used a lot now days but
when I first met this person the internet was just barely starting and most
one could use a PC for was for writing papers easily (I had gone back to
college at the time...so was an awesome help)...other than that I think I
played solitaire a lot. I never knew talk forums existed as I did mostly
research and read old articles and about astronomy and stumbled upon
the old syzygy and it was a year just watching and reading before I
posted...oh then I began getting trojans and hackers abounded with
gross nudity at any moment...it took down one computer...it was old, but
still...I think I was correct at the time and aught to have abstained from
posting...I sorta of knew even back then we were being watched, the sites
we went to and other things like forums.. Now I am like so what...if my
study of astronomy, history, etc. is some valuable whatevver then must
be a boring job we pay these folks to watch us for not much.
Oh, getting back to the name...this one was Asian and lived in
Texas...odd name Mink...but no spelled Minc she said...just like it cause
in Texas when they said her Asian name sounded like "mailing" as in a
letter". Lost contact with them and then the internet gets going full
swing and they found another who knew by using the internet as I could
be anon. then and I liked it. No Facebook for me and I was suspicious of
it form the start. I was not much up for going back and so I let the
attempt at contact go as they had let mine go years ago and I had too
much on my shoulders then to deal with. Yet I read a few things penned
by this person on the web and now it was Minc and stood for Married in
Christ. oh geesh. Then I see on business page many use was now since
she had got a book published which I just found and excerpt too
disturbing to read...that their name had been this but a friend who
thought her a awesome entrepreneur talked her into changing her name
to Minc as in incorporated was what the inc. would mean.
I have found I almost let my info out when looking for a pet that some
are using that as a disguise to get other information from but have a
heartwarming cause like even rescue animal organizations. I am sure
many are legit, but if not a good way to get our tax dollars and to sell
pets they got free someplace and charge or ask for donations to support
the cause. The things that tear at ones heart strings.
I hope I am never tricked into or go against my better judgement and
sign up for Facebook or any other...and that if my accident I just walk
away and never open the door again. It's tricky out there. It seems like
one is almost required to sign up for Facebook (as if I would have a page,
but they want to have you put something up about you and such). Many
with pages have good credentials...many are bogus...but they see
themselves as experts even if not, but there is next to nothing to back it
up if one wanted to do more research so as to see if this book declaring
to help is just that for the topic upon which it caters to at least for one I
know is not the way it really is. Probably zillions out there the same.
That is just my feeling, to not get involved in it, if demands are to do so,
then I better really evaluate why.
Best,
~Eve
|
|
|
|
|
Responses:
[3791] [3793] [3794] [3792] |
|
3791 |
|
|
Date: February 12, 2015 at 07:47:36
From: Karen in IL, [DNS_Address]
Subject: My entire birth family |
|
|
is signed onto facebook. None of them personally let me
know when my dad entered the hospital (for the last time).
The only way I knew my father was dying was when my
youngest brother's wife took actually bothered to phone me.
I will sign up for facebook when hell freezes over.
|
|
|
|
|
Responses:
[3793] [3794] [3792] |
|
3793 |
|
|
Date: February 12, 2015 at 20:34:25
From: sherry, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: My entire birth family |
|
|
Im so sorry for you. That was rude and inconsiderate of your family.
Why people do that I'll never know. Im sorry, big hugs to you.
|
|
|
|
|
Responses:
[3794] |
|
3794 |
|
|
Date: February 12, 2015 at 23:46:03
From: Karen in IL, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: My entire birth family |
|
|
Whereas that is true, I did have a very good relationship
with Dad til the very end. We had an understanding, and he
actually said to me that although he probably shouldn't, he
appreciated me the most because I understood him the best,
and I was the only one he felt he could turn to for being
able to be himself, and seek out answers and help and to just
plain feel better.
That felt good. He did pass away that last time, but I knew
enough from past conversations NOT to come, as he WANTED
his daughters to remember him as a strong man, and not a weak
and sickly one. Our last conversation was when he was in the
hospital, but he had just had a breathing treatment, was
feeling very good, his voice was STRONG, and we talked for hours.
During that time, we told each other how much we loved each other,
too. I regret nothing; for that I am truly grateful.
He may not have been the best husband, nor the world's best
dad, but he was MY dad, I loved him immensely, he was one
of my best telephone buddies in my older years, and I miss
him terribly.
He has been with God now for almost five years come this June.
|
|
|
|
|
Responses:
None |
|
3792 |
|
|
Date: February 12, 2015 at 07:49:06
From: Karen in IL, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: My entire birth family |
|
|
|
I forgot to remove the word "took". Oopsie
|
|
|
|
|
Responses:
None |
|
[
Tech Support ] [ Main Menu ] |