#algorithims

[shivering-isles-cryptid]

Why am I getting love spells on my feed? I’m aromantic?

It’s like using a magnet to draw in plastic, we don’t do that here

[hysteria-in-dystopia]

Algorithms are the worst human invention because what do you mean my standards for my own art have been raised so nothing is ever “good enough”. What do you mean I see nothing but shit from my own echo chamber all the time. What do you mean I just spent six hours doomscrolling because the algorithm is designed to be addictive. What do you mean

[baelpenrose]

Children and Phones

My fellow millenials: I know we grew up when 'those damn phones' was the cry of disconnected boomers. I know that 'damn internet, go outside' was the cry of people who had destroyed all other third spaces and wanted to eliminate one we had, but. I do want to point something out. When we were kids, the internet was a third space. It was democratic. It didn't have rules, and in some ways that made it dangerous - (be real, how many people do you know who talked to adults they shouldn't have when they were young? Did you? I did, honestly, and only didn't get hurt because I was both clever and lucky). But people knew what the dangers were and people overall knew not to give out personal information, so even if you talked to people you shouldn't have, their ability to make you suffer for it was pretty minimal. The internet, in our youth, was, fundamentally, risk-reward, like a dangerous playground. Yes, there were risks, yes, there were strangers, but no one was there to sell anything (or, that wasn't why it existed) and the dangers were, overall, overhyped, and we were, overall, the ones in charge of our experience. These days that isn't true. All the things boomers were afraid of about the internet - that is was full of predators, that it was destroying our ability to make meaningful connection, that it was destroying our attention spans - is now more or less true to life. And I don't want to say it's because the internet or phones have gotten more dangerous, but it's because they've gotten more corporate. They've gotten more algorithmic. The things that made them wild are gone. They now exist to sell products, to guide advertisers to user data, and when we were kids those tools didn't exist to anywhere near the same degree.

These days, yeah. They're designed to addict to as brutal a degree as possible and it is quanitifiable that it destroys the attention span of adolescents on social media. It is quantifiable that it seriously damages their ability to relate to other people in a meaningful way because they are so afraid of being surveilled and afraid of vulnerability because they know that anything they say might be posted about or recorded at any time. When we were young this was a tool for us to explore. Now it's yet another way corporations are making money at the expense of the young, all while insinuating themselves into the lives of kids who can't actually avoid it. Keep your kids away from smart phones as long as you can. They won't like it, but you really are doing the right thing as a parent by keeping them away from it longer.

[woodlandvampire]

I tried to explain to my dad why being an influencer on Tumblr is just Not A Thing and how anyone who tried that would either get no attention or be run off the site, which then descended into a conversation about the advertising situation on here, how Tumblr hates sponsorships, and how making money off your blog is really not a thing here. Sometimes people do commissions or have a Patreon but like. That's it. No sponsored content, no ads, any way the blogger could make money on it is if followers chose to give it to them. Then I had to explain the lack of algorithms and how posting on this site is not for marketability, it is very much brain to keyboard and probably one of the most authentic sites out there, which is why the culture of anonymity is beloved. Then I had to explain that if Tumblr introduced algorithms that promoted sponsored content or anything similar people would just. leave. We hate capitalism here. He doesn't seem to get it. He doesn't get how capitalism ruins the social media experience on most sites and this feels like one of the last ones that are a space for YOU, not corporations. Any connection here is because you sought it out rather than because it was shoved in your face. Small creators have a chance. Everyone is a small creator. We literally cannot see follower counts. THIS IS A GOOD THING.

He was also like "how do they make money" and then I described to him how Tumblr had been losing money hand over fist for a while now and how we all loved this and made memes about it. Also, I had to explain AGAIN that Tumblr users are notoriously difficult to advertise to, and any attempt to figure out how to market to us turns out looking like an insane shitpost that sells nothing. *frog with a knife* "Are you aware of this? You shouldn't be."

[woodlandvampire]

Kind of want to turn on "best stuff first" and "based on your likes" and see how much lamer my dash gets. I'll report back.

[soulcruzerone]

we (you and i) are only as good as the algorithms that train us how to behave

https://twitter.com/soulcruzer/status/1874817018425479402

[0000000000001000]

[mysticdragon3md3]

I remember when seeing vids like this meant a bunch of cosplayers and a group of friends turned into camera crew. Impressive, heart-warming stuff. But now, this stuff gets suggested to me, and I later find out it's AI, and I can't feel completely good about that. -_-;

"JoJo's Bizarre Adventure By Gucci"