‘Intelligence Updates’

Social media is a core component of the Imaginary War. Academic research shows #Twitter is home to a massive pro-Ukraine bot army, endlessly pumping out pro-Kiev, anti-Russian messaging. The same is no doubt true of every #social-media platform. This helps create the illusion of nigh-universal support for #Ukraine globally, when outside the West, populations and governments are either neutral, or outright supportive of #Russia, perceiving the conflict to be a strike against #NATO, and Western imperialism.

“This is supposed to be a David and Goliath story. But David and Goliath is a crap story if the giant wins…Predictable, a bit disheartening and not really a story at all, just the way the world works. Besides, a Western audience wants to see the good guy win, both to mete out justice and to enjoy victory by proxy. Ukraine’s anguishing self-defence is not a novel. But it’s not satisfying our fictional appetites.”

source

400 people arrested in #Russia for comments posted on #social-media
but in the #UK, last year - there were #3300 !!!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=DIl-HO9Ng3I

Crazy !!

SOCIAL MEDIA, Co-ops & I

'Even the memory of what's been lost, has been lost.' Jane Jacobs

Since I was 16 I have always been a co-op member. I have always banked at a credit union (credit unions are financial co-operatives) and have often been a member of a consumer co-operative, groceries and gas being my main purchases there. Nothing fancy like a housing, work or daycare co-op, but, co-operatives, nonetheless.

Much of Alberta's rural electrification was carried out by groups of farmers who created co-ops to string the electric lines big companies saw no profit it stringing (the whole 'last mile' problem). Yes, even redneck Alberta not only had, but still has, rural electrification Associations, many of which are co-operatives.

Alberta’s natural gas co-ops are now the world’s largest rural natural gas distribution system (https://energyrates.ca/everything-need-know-albertas-natural-gas-co-ops/).

But legislation prevents me, an urbanite, from undermining our large petrogarcs; I am forbidden from joining energy co-operatives.

Alberta has a trucking co-operative created by some trucking companies that all had the same problem of getting small amounts of goods to Alberta's smaller communities; 'lets form a co-op, we can give it all the small jobs, thus, combined, turning them into big jobs, and drive the rural highways to get goods from city to town. That's been a very successful model for years now. And we, yes, Albertans, has others, too.

Co-ops! So what, and why?

Well, basically, the money. Keep it local and keep it honest. As a member of my credit union, I am an owner, and I have shares, and votes in what happens. Unlike, say Canada's big banks - TD, BMO, etc. which pay their CEO & a few majority shareholders huge profits every year, my credit union gives annual profit to its owners, which is to say myself and all the other members. We, the owners of the credit union, don't demand 'Higher profits!' We don't bully our staff into selling more product. We don't squeeze our customers because we are they! We want a stable organization that is lending to stable people and organizations that are socially responsible - not mining companies out polluting peoples' drinking water in the 3rd World.

So, when the financial melt down happened in 2008 what did we do? Basically, got on with our lives, it didn't affect us (we were in a country that believed in regulation, so our entire banking system was insulated from the USA nonsense, but, the Credit Union was a secondary shield, we expected fiscal responsibility over profit. And we slept well in 2008.

So, in co-operatives, the owners, which is to say the users, know where the money's coming from, going to and what its doing, and most of what its doing is staying local. You want socially responsible, local finances, join a credit union and as many co-operatives as you can, your money will stay as local as possible. And, of course, read more about the shining star of co-operatives the Spanish Mondragon Co-ops (link below).

Yea, but, relative to social media, what? Relative to Jane Jacobs, what?

In Canada there used to be federal support for co-operatives, for broadcasting the idea and for building them. Co-ops were seen as an important tool in the toolbox of those who would support innovative business and social justice. New housing cooperatives housed hundreds of people in many cities in Canada, existing housing co-ops still do, but CMHC, the federal organization responsible for housing, no longer supports co-op housing development. The idea of co-operatives has been waning for 50 years now.

For example, in my digging around the social media world I find what? Well, at one end, we have Mark Z. & his Facebook. He becomes fabulously wealthy, I get a social media platform (that is understaffed by underpaid workers) and advertizers get, for a price, easy access to me. Or, on the other hand, there are all the volunteer-run, non-profit platforms, TRUST CAFE/DIASPORA etc. which are add free, under-financed and volunteer-run. But there are no co-operative social media platforms wherein the platform is staffed, self-funded and independent. At least none that I know of.

I would say that, these days, social media has a hugely important role to play in our lives and in the world. Social media is too important to hand off to the mercy of billionaires like Z. et al.

Also, at the other extreme, social media is too important to be run by volunteers in their free time on their servers.
--------------+----------------------
IMHO, all social media platforms should be user-owned, should be co-operatives, generating income to pay their bills, but putting anything extra put back into the platform, maybe into content creation, maybe member dividends for each member or whatever else members wish to do with their money. But the platforms should be able to pay their way in this world and their users should have control of them, both for the sake of the platform but also for the empowerment of the people themselves.

What do you think?

https://www.mondragon-corporation.com/en/about-us/

#Co-operatives, #social-media,#credit-unions,#investment

Why Diaspora is the Best!

#newhere #diaspora #fediverse #federation #facebook #social-media #meta

Blog Moving to Diaspora!

#wordpress #meta #facebook #social-media #diaspora #fediverse #federation

The Future's News Today

90% of Social Media Users Revealed to be Deep Fakes

On Instagram, almost all photos are fakes, picturing people who never existed.

As creating extremely realistic fake photos and AI-written text has become easy and free, social media companies have quietly replaced human users with fictional users. Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have admitted that most of their users are not actually human beings. Musk explained that "Artificial users are much easier to please, and they love to watch ads!" Zuckerberg pointed out that "Artificial users don't violate copyright, post porn, or start fights. They're wonderful. I can't believe that we didn't think of this sooner."

When asked if advertisers will be upset about this, Zuckerberg replied, "Why should they? Artificial people buy things. They're actually better at ordering online than humans. And you can cheat them by not sending them what they ordered. They can't complain to the police and courts; legally, they aren't even people. Merchants can sell the same goods again and again. They can even sell fictional goods. Where do we get the money our artificial people spend? Easy. From advertisers, of course."

Musk pointed out that "You can't violate the privacy of an artificial person. They have no right to privacy; they have no rights at all! They don't exist."

#internet #advertising #big-tech #social-media #business #capitalism #social-media #innovation #artificial-intelligence #ai #fakes #deep-fakes #finsta #fake-accounts #chatgpt

News | Tagesschau: USA - Facebook als Helfer der Polizei?

Chats, Textnachrichten, Videos: Bei Ermittlungen werden in den USA immer wieder Tech-Unternehmen angefragt, Informationen auszuhändigen. Was bedeutet das für die Nutzer?

Bei einem Verdacht auf ein Verbrechen können die Strafverfolgungsbehörden in den USA fast alles bekommen, erklärt Rachel Cohen, Reporterin bei Vox News im Interview bei NPR: "Es gibt nur wenig, was sie nicht bekommen, wenn sie dafür zu Google oder Social Media Unternehmen gehen!" (weiter)

Audio: Web | MP3

Meine Meinung: Leider war genau so eine Entwicklung zu erwarten. Und auch hier in Europa wo wir einen besseren Datenschutz etc. haben werden die Begehrlichkeiten seitens staatlicher Stellen weiter wachsen. Dagegen hilft zum einen Datensparsamkeit der entsprechenden Plattformen, zum anderen starke Verschlüsselung und Zugriffsbeschränkungen. Gerade bei den letzten beiden Punkten sind wir auch im Fediverse nicht bereit. Außerdem hinterlasen wir überall Datenspuren. Z. B. wenn wir die Kalenderfunktion des Smartphones benutzen und diese nicht vollkommen offline arbeitet. Aber auch bei dem Ratschlag das Handy bei bestimmten Sachen daheim zu lassen muss man vorsichtig sein, den es gibt auch darüber hinaus Möglichkeiten des Trackings. Z. B. über neuere Autos, über Monats- und Jahreskarten wenn diese elektronisch überprüft werden oder über Videocams hinter denen Algorithmen sitzen um Menschen zu identifizieren und zu verfolgen.

Tags: #News #USA #Datenschutz #Datenspuren #Tech-Unternehmen #Chats #Social-Media #Videos #Textnachruchten #Europa #Gesetze #Überwachung #Tagesschau #Meinung #Sascha #2022-08-15
Räume: @FediverseDE

#politik #kultur #literatur #radio #interview #shitstorm #social-media #cancel-culture-von-rechts-bis-liberalala

Der Fall Eli­sa Ase­va: Das Gespenst des Kommunismus

Sobald jemand in Deutschland Kommunismus sagt, rastet der liberale Mob auf Twitter völlig aus – trotz bemerkenswerter Unkenntnis der Geschichte, findet Ingar Solty.

Ein Gespenst geht um in Deutsch­land – das Gespenst des Kom­mu­nis­mus. Alle Mäch­te des Alten haben sich zu einer hei­li­gen Hetz­jagd ver­bün­det, Juli­an Rei­chelt und Don Alp­hon­so, Vol­ker Beck und Mar­co Busch­mann, deut­sche Ras­sis­ten und ein libe­ra­ler Twit­ter-Mob, der sich in auto­ri­tä­ren Bestra­fungs­fan­ta­sien ergeht.

Gegen wen? Gegen Eli­sa Ase­va, eine Schwar­ze Frau, die vor 42 Jah­ren wäh­rend der Flucht ihrer äthio­pi­schen Eltern gebo­ren wur­de und in Deutsch­land auf­ge­wach­sen ist. Heu­te arbei­tet sie in Ber­lin als Kell­ne­rin und fei­er­te vor einem Jahr ihr viel­ge­prie­se­nes Debüt »Über Stun­den«. Der Shit­s­torm im Inter­net hat dafür gesorgt, dass ihr – in klei­ner Auf­la­ge erschie­ne­nes – Buch aus­ver­kauft ist. Sie selbst wird hier­durch aber selbst­ver­ständ­lich nicht reich. Die Über­stun­den in der Gas­tro­no­mie, die das Leben im Gen­tri­fi­zie­rungs­ber­lin mehr schlecht als recht finan­zie­ren, wer­den also bleiben.

Die Frau wird ange­grif­fen, weil sie es im Rah­men eines aus­führ­li­chen, klu­gen und nuan­cier­ten Inter­views im Deutsch­land­ra­dio wag­te, als Lyri­ke­rin auch ihre poli­ti­sche Über­zeu­gung kund­zu­tun: Sie glau­be, »dass wir den Kom­mu­nis­mus haben müs­sen, wenn wir eine Zukunft für alle wol­len«. Deutsch­land­ra­dio Kul­tur nutz­te die­sen Satz unab­ge­spro­chen in den sozia­len Medi­en. Zur Bewer­bung viel­leicht, weil er für den unge­wöhn­li­chen Mut der »Self­made-Poe­tin« spricht, aber sicher­lich auch mit dem Kal­kül des vor­her­seh­ba­ren Skan­dals. Man setz­te Frau Ase­va damit also auch den mas­si­ven Angrif­fen mit Gewalt­fan­ta­sien in den sozia­len Medi­en aus, denen vor allem Schwar­ze und in die­sem Fall dazu noch lohn­ar­bei­ten­de Frau­en aus­ge­setzt sind, wenn sie sich in der Öffent­lich­keit links positionieren.

Man soll­te nun mei­nen, Frau Ase­va hät­te alle Soli­da­ri­tät auch von Libe­ra­len ver­dient. Ganz nach dem Mot­to des von ihnen gern bemüh­ten Auf­klä­rungs­phi­lo­so­phen Vol­taire: »Mein Herr, ich tei­le Ihre Mei­nung nicht, aber ich wür­de mein Leben dafür ein­set­zen, dass Sie sie äußern dür­fen.« Tat­säch­lich ver­su­chen indes gera­de die, die sich ansons­ten über lin­ke »Can­cel Cul­tu­re« in Rage twit­tern, jetzt Frau Ase­va zu canceln.

Die Angrif­fe die­nen dem Zweck, einen Men­schen fer­tig­zu­ma­chen, um Tau­sen­de ande­re zu dis­zi­pli­nie­ren....

Die Angrif­fe zeich­nen sich durch eine bemer­kens­wer­te Unkennt­nis der Geschich­te der Arbeiter*innenbewegung und des Kom­mu­nis­mus aus, eben­so der Bour­geoi­sie als Klas­sen­trä­ge­rin des Libe­ra­lis­mus. Das ist jedoch kein Wun­der. Diet­mar Dath hat in sei­nem Husa­ren­stück »für die, denen die Welt nicht gehört«, die Klas­se der Eigen­tums­lo­sen gemahnt, nie zu »ver­ges­sen, dass die Besit­zen­den und ihre Pro­pa­gan­da-Abtei­lun­gen grund­sätz­lich kei­ne Vor­stel­lung von Geschich­te haben und nur dann so tun, als hät­ten sie eine, wenn sie ihr eige­nes Ver­schwin­den im Zuge geschicht­li­cher Umwäl­zun­gen fürchten«.

Aber da die Eigen­tums­lo­sen sowohl ihre eige­ne als auch die Geschich­te ihrer Geg­ner bes­ser ken­nen müs­sen, wenn sie ihr Schick­sal über­win­den wol­len, sei hier noch mal da­ran erin­nert, wel­che Bot­schaft der – des Kom­mu­nis­mus lebens­lang unver­däch­ti­ge – Tho­mas Mann 1944 an sei­ne eige­ne Eigen­tü­mer­klas­se rich­te­te. Näm­lich, dass die Zukunft sich »kaum ohne kom­mu­nis­ti­sche Züge vor­stel­len lässt; das heißt, ohne die grund­le­gen­de Idee der gemein­sa­men Eigen­tums- und Genuss­rech­te an den Gütern der Erde, ohne eine fort­schrei­ten­de Ein­ebnung der Klas­sen­un­ter­schie­de, ohne das Recht auf Arbeit und die Pflicht zur Arbeit für alle«.
- https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1164402.der-fall-elissa-asesva-das-gespenst-des-kommunismus.html

Hier das Interview:

Elisa Aseva: Das geheime Heft und der gehässige Punk

D.C. Attorney General Files Long-Anticipated Lawsuit Accusing Mark Zuckerberg of Involvement in Cambridge Analytica Scandal and 2016 Election Manipulation
ADAM KLASFELDMay 23rd, 2022

good.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was “personally involved” in the Cambridge Analytica scandal and “encouraged” the manipulation of the 2016 presidential election, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine alleged in a lawsuit filed Monday. Racine previously made such allegations late last year, when he asked a D.C. judge to add the tech billionaire to a still-pending lawsuit against Facebook.

#news #journalism #CambridgeAnalytica #Facebook #Zuckerberg #2016election #social-media #privacy #lawandcrime

Nowadays, the pressure to commodify ourselves can be seen in the obsession with influencer culture, plastic surgery, and going viral. Instead of rejecting this culture of commodification, we have actually embraced it, encouraged it, and accepted it as a part of the new normal.

#social-media #surveillance-capitalism #exploitation #consumerism

https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-surveillance-capitalism/

Guess who (else) wants to build his own social media platform.

#social-media

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/28/elon-musk-says-hes-considering-building-a-new-social-media-platform.html

#politik #verwaltung #staat #land #kommune #social-media #netzpolitik

Öffentliche Stellen: Raus aus Facebook, raus aus Instagram, raus aus Twitter

Stefan Brink und Clarissa Henning appellieren: Öffentliche Stellen sollten aus den vermeintlich Sozialen Medien aussteigen. Warum die nicht sozial sind, was Polizei, Kommunen und Co. stattdessen tun sollten und was das mit dem Vertrauen in mündige Bürger zu tun hat, kommentieren sie in ihrem Gastbeitrag.

#politik #krieg #ukraine #russland #eu #social-media #suchmaschinen #google

Der Krieg bedroht auch die Pressefreiheit. Für das Recht, RT und Sputnik zu boykottieren – gegen staatliche Zensur (Fortsetzung)

“Eine E-Mail aus der EU-Kommission an Google erklärt, wie weitreichend das Verbot der russischen Propagandasender RT und Sputnik sein soll. Suchergebnisse und Social-Media-Inhalte sollen nicht nur zensiert werden, wenn sie von den Sendern kommen, sondern auch, wenn sie deren Inhalte wiedergeben. […] Die entsprechende E-Mail ist in der Datenbank Lumen abrufbar, in der Google und andere Unternehmen regelmäßig Löschanfragen veröffentlichen. Nach Informationen von netzpolitik.org ging die E-Mail auch an weitere Anbieter wie Facebook und Tiktok. Dort heißt es: “Daraus folgt, dass nach der Verordnung die Anbieter von Internetsuchdiensten sicherstellen müssen, dass i) jeder Link zu den Internetseiten von RT und Sputnik und ii) jeder Inhalt von RT und Sputnik, einschließlich kurzer textlicher Beschreibungen, visueller Elemente und Links zu den zu den entsprechenden Websites nicht in den Suchergebnissen erscheinen, die Nutzern in der EU angezeigt werden.” Dies bedeutet, dass nicht nur die Angebote der Sender selbst aus den Suchergebnissen gelöscht werden sollen, sondern dass auch eine publizistische oder wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzungen mit den Inhalten selbst unter die Zensurbestimmungen fallen könnten. […] Doch nicht nur Suchmaschinen sollen Inhalte weitreichend zensieren. Auch Social-Media-Plattformen müssten ihren Nutzer:innen die „Ausstrahlung“ der Inhalte untersagen, so die Erläuterung. […] Die niederländische Bürgerrechtsorganisation „Bits of Freedom“ kritisiert, dass es in einem demokratischen Rechtsstaat nicht angebracht sei, dass ein politisches Gremium darüber entscheidet, welche Informationen uns zugänglich sind und welche nicht. „In einem freien Land entscheidet die Regierung nicht darüber, welche Websites Sie aufrufen dürfen und welche nicht.“ Statt auf Zensur zu setzen, solle die EU lieber unabhängige Medien in Russland fördern...

• Beitrag von Markus Reuter vom 10. März 2022 bei Netzpolitik.org https://netzpolitik.org/2022/sanktionen-gegen-russische-propaganda-eu-kommission-will-offenbar-suchergebnisse-und-social-media-inhalte-zensieren/

Dossier zum Thema: https://www.labournet.de/interventionen/grundrechte/kommunikationsfreiheit/netzzensur/der-krieg-bedroht-auch-die-pressefreiheit-fuer-das-recht-rt-und-sputnik-zu-boykottieren-gegen-staatliche-zensur/

Extinguish the Flaming Social Media Trashpile!

If you can get followers to spend a little more effort - to change the thumbs-up to a heart emoji, for example - you got something like a "reaction" out of them. But the holy grail of engagement - getting a thing to "go viral" or "spread like wildfire" online - requires the equivalent of fuel, a heat source, and oxygen.

#bias #ethics #linkedin #sharing #social-media #truth

Originally posted at: https://jahangiri.us/2020/extinguish-the-flaming-social-media-trashpile/

No Glad Tidings Go Unpunished! #Facebook and #Instagram

Beware - if you're staying on these platforms to keep in touch with family or friends, or to operate your legitimate business, you could be shut down without notice or recourse, because review of these actions by real humans possessed of common sense is nearly impossible to obtain.

#downfall-of-civilization #facebook #linkedin #social-harm #social-media #twitter

Originally posted at: https://jahangiri.us/2020/no-glad-tidings-go-unpunished-facebook-and-instagram/

#social-media #Palestine
https://www.mintpressnews.com/facebook-social-media-giants-admit-silencing-palestinian-voices/277110/

Radio Silence

I decided that since I don’t even remember ever getting a comment on this blog ever, I might as well shut down the comments feature. No need to leave myself open to spammers. The only feedback I’ve ever gotten was from the single person I know who reads my posts, and he pings me in the slack we’re both in, so…

If you ever feel the desire to talk to me about any of the bullshit I post here, pretty much most of the social media is linked above. Just hit me up on one of those platforms. Hell, I cross post to all that shit, and I think the only person who bothers to read what I write here follows via rss.

It would be nice if I could automagically cross post to pillowfort though.

#comments #social-media

Originally posted at: https://deathkitten.net/2020/03/radio-silence/

My life right now ~ and why it doesn't include facebook

So first off, my life as it is right now is really pretty good. I haven’t had a drink in 12 weeks and am with a caring partner who is also my best friend. Both of those things are wonderful things. The happiness I began to feel when starting a new relationship with someone who I really, totally connected with wasn’t just that ‘honeymoon’ effect of a new relationship. It was actually a process of him drawing out some of the best qualities within myself that I forgot I had and honouring them. He disassembled (and still does) my self-directed verbal abuse and in doing so that gave me the space to realize that I am worthy of living the best life I can for myself – which in turn becomes the best life for my kiddos as well.

When that process began I realized I needed to pull out a few thorns that were stuck in my side in order to really embrace life more. I talked about this a bit before in previous posts. Some things I can’t control very well and I won’t beat myself up over it (like anxiety) but SOME things I CAN do something about and that was/is the battle against substance abuse. In my case, alcohol. Anyone who has ever had a problem with alcohol abuse (aka, getting your ass kicked by a bottle of liquor) knows that it amplifies anxiety by a billion percent and the only thing that will help after a night of drinking is more drinking. So THAT was the first thing that needed to go.

But it’s not that simple. Our culture is geared toward substance abuse. Whether it be alcohol, other drugs, gambling, shopping… anything to make things feel better. People who are truly happy, joyful and at peace with themselves don’t overindulge dangerously into areas they can’t control.

So I chose to immerse myself in some sober communities. The Boozemusings Community has been fantastic. I found them through one of my two sober apps I installed on my phone. Sober Time I believe. Someone there had posted a link to a story at the Boozemusings site and I just thought… yeah, someone gets it.

I spent some of the ‘extra’ money I had from not drinking on some new tarot decks (okay, not actually ‘extra’ money, I am broke as hell but it seemed fair to treat myself to something that wouldn’t kick my ass ), and got back into that part of my mind. My spirit mind. I had forgotten how deeply I loved the esoteric and the spiritual. I forgot how happy my brain got, seeing colourful meaningful imagery via the artwork on the cards .

I started reading some books again, picked up some favourites from when I was on my spiritual journey before.

Things had been very flat and painful since my daughter died. They still are. Horribly so – but alcohol didn’t help, it just numbed it. But numbed the good things as well. And even before she died I had already begun to turn to alcohol because my marriage starved me of emotional support and joy, so alcohol helped replace the feelings of contentment that I had lost long ago. It also helped me with my social anxiety and made me feel like things weren’t SO bad (for maybe 5-6 drinks. All downhill after that but your brain always remembers those 5-6 drinks)

I also started re-attending the Anglican church that I first found as a sober, depressed, sleep deprived, sad mother about 8 years ago. And this time I have a partner that not only supports me going but goes WITH me and talks to others and interacts with others and hence has helped me to crawl out of my shell a bit more by making it all feel normal. I had thought I had ‘support’ of my previous partner but it was tolerance. He tolerated me going, but resented that he had to watch the kids while I went because it cut into his personal time etc.

Anyhow so finding a great online sober community to immerse myself in, and reconnecting with the brick n’ mortar real life community that was my spiritual home has been great. I also connected with a person there who said they would attend AA meetings with me, because they just passed their 1 year. I also decided to contact the local addiction and prevention services center to see about getting more direct support because I know how easy it is to fall off the wagon – and I don’t want to be in that position.

So – now to FACEBOOK. It’s weird how while using facebook it feels like this expansive large virtual alternate world of ideas, thoughts and communication — but after not using it for a while it feels tiny, controlled and fucking scary as hell. I know that Facebook has specialists that work on ways to make it more addictive – the sort of people who specialize in gambling set ups and other such things to find out how to make people use things more. Buy things more. Etc. Yesterday I came across an article about

a leaked confidential document prepared by Facebook that revealed the company had offered advertisers the opportunity to target 6.4 million younger users, some only 14 years old, during moments of psychological vulnerability, such as when they felt “worthless,” “insecure,” “stressed,” “defeated,” “anxious,” and like a “failure.”

From that article were quite a few different links – some of them not able to be read because they were behind a paywall – but this one is available to read from the PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) : Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks

This is something we all know, and my partner and I have talked about a lot. Not only does Facebook steal data – datamining is so common with them now that no one seems to even care anymore – but they also study and target depressed people, including young people – looking for keywords about depression, anxiety etc – and it’s understood that depressed people buy more things . The implication from a few different studies and articles is that Facebook knows that putting depressing traumatizing shit in people’s feeds makes them buy more. Because buying things makes people feel better. But a big part of the linked study is about how the moods spread across social networks is contagious. The linked study is a 20 year study on Facebook. And the opening paragraph states:

Emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness. Emotional contagion is well established in laboratory experiments, with people transferring positive and negative emotions to others. Data from a large real-world social network, collected over a 20-y period suggests that longer-lasting moods (e.g., depression, happiness) can be transferred through networks

Quite plainly — Facebook is shit. Any social network that uses you as an ad target is shit. You feeling bad makes them money.

When you give up drinking, or any drug it leaves your brain very vulnerable. After the initial explosion of mild euphoria when brain cells spring back to life etc there is a lull. A flatness. Women’s seretonin departments of their brains are damaged in as little as four years of problematic drinking, (whereas it takes TWELVE for men) and although we know the brain regains mass and cells and other things after drinking cessation we don’t know about the serotonin. You can read the article and see the study links here: Serotonin system in women’s brains is damaged more readily by alcohol than that in men’s brains, study finds

There is a full article and study here at pubmed as well, in regards to how it affects dopamine, serotonin and all the good stuff : Neurotransmitters in alcoholism: A review of neurobiological and genetic studies

So it goes back to choosing what I CAN do to give myself the best mental health outcome:

1. Don’t drink. Not AT ALL. And enlist whatever help I need to stay sober.
2. Stay away from Facebook and other social media platforms who’s SOLE purpose is to make you the most reliable ad target ever.

and tossing in something that sort of supports both 1 AND 2

Be around people and participate in communities that give me the space to safely achieve what I feel is best for me.

I still check Instagram regularly, looking only at stuff the people I follow post. I see no political posts in my feed – I see funny crap from Letterkenny, cool things from some of the Hannibal fan art creators that used to be on Tumblr, and clips from family, friends and organizations that I am connected to. That is my ‘ALMOST NO’ because they are owned by FB. But it doesn’t leave me with the same gross feeling FB leaves me with.

I have an account on MeWe – there are no ads there. No advertising – so you aren’t an ad target. Instead MeWe makes money from selling additional emojis or really cheap monthly/annual rates for Pages or video calls. Their groups are really great, much better than FB groups – it’s a great platform really.

I have an account on Tumblr – I got an account there when it first opened over a decade ago. I was REALLY happy to hear it got bought from Verizon by Atomattic ! I’m godisinthewind.tumblr.com over there.

My favourite non-facebook social networking platform is Diaspora though. I’ve been there just over 8 years. I use the Diasp.org pod for my Diaspora account. If you’ve never heard of it check it out. I use the name Birch Wind pretty much everywhere – so feel free to connect.

There are many ways that the internet is awesome and lots of fantastic ways to connect. I wish more of my friends would blog so I could go to THEIR site and read what THEY want to share. I loved LiveJournal for that small community feel – I still do in fact! When people wrote to write. NOT for revenue, not for clicks. But for expression. I still crosspost over to my earthandspirit.livejournal.com account from over here at Wordpress. (I also cross post to Diaspora and Tumblr)

People don’t need Facebook. There should not be just ONE place for every person to be in a sinkhole — sitting there, having your emotional vulnerabilities sold to the highest bidder. Life is tough enough. Break free from non-thinking cycles of bullshit. Find positive communities in real life and online. If you can’t leave FB then SERIOUSLY weed out your friends list. Stop focusing on resharing of crappy memes and political BS. You want the news? Go read a newspaper, or go seek out the information from a reputable source. Get your brain thinking — don’t just sit in facebook being fed garbage news made to upset you and then resharing it with others like some sort of armchair vigilante. Write, be creative, seek out connections, interact fully.

Our brains are amazing things but emotions are SO easily messed with by the things people see as daily culture – Facebook and Alcohol. Life is difficult enough – deaths of loved ones, diseases, poverty – so many things that we each struggle with. Why purposely contribute to the downfall of our own selves by being sucked into such a destructive cycle. I won’t.

#sobriety #tarot #facebook #alcoholism #diaspora #mewe #social-media

Originally posted at: https://inthewind.ca/my-life-right-now-and-why-it-doesnt-include-facebook/

Another interesting live session of the presencing institute, this time on technology. Specifically the use of social media and what they can do for democracy.

As someone who works in the tech industry I was looking forward to this session.
A quote:

Socially responsible companies think about all the intended and unintended consequences of their tech.

Some unintended consequences are for instance the environmental cost as a side effect of blockchain technology.
Or the psychological impact on the moderators of social media who have to filter out things like violence.

There are no simple answers, but there is a lot to think about and to consider. Our own intentions are very important as well, because they shape the direction the future will take.

Another thing I took away from this session: when using social media, we can amplify information that is closing the mind, heart and will (false information, information that is fear mongering, information that is polarizing) or we can choose to amplify information that opens the mind (curiosity), opens the heart (compassion) and opens the will (courage). In the end, the choice is up to us.

I'm curious, what are your intentions when using technology in general, and social media specifically?

#democracy #social-media #technology

https://www.presencing.org/#/news/news/recap-of-tcl-live-session-on-technology