Gone are those days when social media was limited to friend requests, likes, shares, and followers. Right now it is shaping global policy, bringing down governments, making governments. It's completely changing how elections are fought. Indeed social media is a pretty powerful thing. But as the cliche goes - with power comes responsibility. So the real question is - has social media been responsible enough in using that power? Well, not so much.
Today's definition of the Internet is Twitter, Youtube, Facebook with a couple of more sites. These are the three ports to this vast ocean of information. These three are the window to the Internet. The answer to what is happening on the Internet is what is happening on these three platforms. But when the Internet became public in its initial days, its definition was very different. The vision for the Internet was very different. Back then the Internet meant possibilities, access to anything, and everything. Of course, everything was not accessible but before the Internet, there was cable TV. And compared to that, the Internet was really unlimited information.
The idea was that with the Internet going public, there will be decentralization of information. Everybody will have equal access. There will be a decentralized communication infrastructure.
And instead of swapping the four channels of cable TV, people will be able to choose what they want to watch and know. In front of the TV, you passively consume information and on the web, you will actively seek information. People will become curious. They will be able to know other cultures. The whole Internet bubble created in the '90s on the west coast of America was no less than a utopia.
The idea was cool and it spread like fire. But today after three decades, when we open our mobile device to browse the Internet, do we so-called actively seek information? Most of the time we just scroll passively. And that too when we are waiting for a gym or train or when we are frustrated with our boring job. Or when we are sitting alone on the bus. Basically, we use the Internet to fill voids in our life. As a filler in our daily shows. The Internet has become an escape. And because of that, the Internet today has the same drawbacks which TV had back then. Passively consuming information.
And maybe this is our innate nature. Perhaps we are passive creatures because of our past evolutionary circumstances. Since Homo sapiens began living in cooperative societies, after
the agricultural revolution, we have started living a sedative life. This means we rely on each other's skills for most of our work. And this made us rapidly progress. If we are the king of the animal kingdom, its because of this cooperation. But this also makes us a passive creature. We don't have to be active all the time for survival. Most of the time you can lay back and chill. And this passivity has majorly shaped the Internet in recent times.
As the Internet expanded and the volume of information increased, instead of seeking information, we started to take recommendations from the Internet. Most of the time we lay back and scroll. This means today whatever content or information you consume on the Internet, 90% of it is recommended content. You didn't make any choice, but websites did, by analyzing your past activities and inspecting your behavior. Be it any site i.e shopping site, social media, search engine, the recommendation system is very crucial, especially Youtube. If there are no recommendations on youtube, we would not stay there for long. It is because of recommendations and suggestions that we end up watching videos for 10-12 hours a day and don't even realize.
Today's definition of the Internet is Twitter, Youtube, Facebook with a couple of more sites. These are the three ports to this vast ocean of information. These three are the window to the Internet. The answer to what is happening on the Internet is what is happening on these three platforms. But when the Internet became public in its initial days, its definition was very different. The vision for the Internet was very different. Back then the Internet meant possibilities, access to anything, and everything. Of course, everything was not accessible but before the Internet, there was cable TV. And compared to that, the Internet was really unlimited information.
The idea was that with the Internet going public, there will be decentralization of information. Everybody will have equal access. There will be a decentralized communication infrastructure.
And instead of swapping the four channels of cable TV, people will be able to choose what they want to watch and know. In front of the TV, you passively consume information and on the web, you will actively seek information. People will become curious. They will be able to know other cultures. The whole Internet bubble created in the '90s on the west coast of America was no less than a utopia.
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| Social Media Politics |
The idea was cool and it spread like fire. But today after three decades, when we open our mobile device to browse the Internet, do we so-called actively seek information? Most of the time we just scroll passively. And that too when we are waiting for a gym or train or when we are frustrated with our boring job. Or when we are sitting alone on the bus. Basically, we use the Internet to fill voids in our life. As a filler in our daily shows. The Internet has become an escape. And because of that, the Internet today has the same drawbacks which TV had back then. Passively consuming information.
And maybe this is our innate nature. Perhaps we are passive creatures because of our past evolutionary circumstances. Since Homo sapiens began living in cooperative societies, after
the agricultural revolution, we have started living a sedative life. This means we rely on each other's skills for most of our work. And this made us rapidly progress. If we are the king of the animal kingdom, its because of this cooperation. But this also makes us a passive creature. We don't have to be active all the time for survival. Most of the time you can lay back and chill. And this passivity has majorly shaped the Internet in recent times.
As the Internet expanded and the volume of information increased, instead of seeking information, we started to take recommendations from the Internet. Most of the time we lay back and scroll. This means today whatever content or information you consume on the Internet, 90% of it is recommended content. You didn't make any choice, but websites did, by analyzing your past activities and inspecting your behavior. Be it any site i.e shopping site, social media, search engine, the recommendation system is very crucial, especially Youtube. If there are no recommendations on youtube, we would not stay there for long. It is because of recommendations and suggestions that we end up watching videos for 10-12 hours a day and don't even realize.
Recommended Book - Everybody Lies
On the brighter side, we can also see this as personalization. Today there is so much to know and watch on the Internet that it is practically impossible for anyone to watch so many different things. Too much information without relevance becomes noise. And that's why these sites recommend us content relevant to us. It analyzes your web behavior and suggests to you the content we might find interesting. If it fits your taste, only then you will stay on that site. You will click and click and click. And frankly, clicking is not the main concern here either. It is a problem but on an individual level.
If you sit back and watch cute cat videos the whole day, at worse you are just wasting your time. But when a video shares a particular political view or is related to a particular ideology and when we click on that video, things start getting nasty from thereon. Because when you click on a video, you not only watch it but you are also voting for it. You are asking the algorithm to recommend more content like that, at the expense of the videos you didn't click. And what happens then? By clicking that one video, you are recommended more videos sharing the same perspective. You watch them too. and the more you are suggested more you watch and so forth. And a time comes when your newsfeed or homepage is filled with videos of only that particular viewpoint. There is no contradicting view, no opposing view. There is no such content recommended on your homepage which confronts your perspective. And even if there is, it is so few that you will easily ignore it. You might have noticed it during the elections. A person's youtube homepage can tell his political view.
It is said that we are in the post-truth era. Means today we don't care about verified information, truth, facts, figures. We use the Internet not to get informed but to affirm. We only consume information that we want to believe, that comforts our worldview, meets our expectations, aligns with our emotions. Because it is hard to see something that confronts our view. Because it is hard to accept something that opposes our opinion. And how do we even form opinions on any issue? Do we think over it, understand it, find why and how or do we get influenced by what we find in the online media?
On the brighter side, we can also see this as personalization. Today there is so much to know and watch on the Internet that it is practically impossible for anyone to watch so many different things. Too much information without relevance becomes noise. And that's why these sites recommend us content relevant to us. It analyzes your web behavior and suggests to you the content we might find interesting. If it fits your taste, only then you will stay on that site. You will click and click and click. And frankly, clicking is not the main concern here either. It is a problem but on an individual level.
If you sit back and watch cute cat videos the whole day, at worse you are just wasting your time. But when a video shares a particular political view or is related to a particular ideology and when we click on that video, things start getting nasty from thereon. Because when you click on a video, you not only watch it but you are also voting for it. You are asking the algorithm to recommend more content like that, at the expense of the videos you didn't click. And what happens then? By clicking that one video, you are recommended more videos sharing the same perspective. You watch them too. and the more you are suggested more you watch and so forth. And a time comes when your newsfeed or homepage is filled with videos of only that particular viewpoint. There is no contradicting view, no opposing view. There is no such content recommended on your homepage which confronts your perspective. And even if there is, it is so few that you will easily ignore it. You might have noticed it during the elections. A person's youtube homepage can tell his political view.
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| Internet Politics |
It is said that we are in the post-truth era. Means today we don't care about verified information, truth, facts, figures. We use the Internet not to get informed but to affirm. We only consume information that we want to believe, that comforts our worldview, meets our expectations, aligns with our emotions. Because it is hard to see something that confronts our view. Because it is hard to accept something that opposes our opinion. And how do we even form opinions on any issue? Do we think over it, understand it, find why and how or do we get influenced by what we find in the online media?
read more - The Exploited Workers of Data Factories
In today's time, for the majority of people, social media is the only place they get to know the news. We get our perspective on things on these few sites. And what do we get there? The things we want to see and not what we need to see. That's why we can only see our angle on any issue. We only know our side of the story. But the trouble is, just by confirming ourselves of what we already believe, we feel that not only we are right, but we are the only valid. We think other sides are not just wrong, they are invalid too. So they are not even worth listening to. That's why today there is so much friction in conversations of people having different opinions. Because we have already assumed that whatever the other one is saying is complete bullshit. I think we are losing that common thread. We are forming a society with different extreme opposite opinions.
Recommended Book - The Internet is Not the Answer
The Internet essentially is a networking concept. A giant network of people all around the globe. And because of it, media distribution today is very even. Means Television is very asymmetrical where one or a group of individuals addresses and broadcasts to lakhs of people. And there is almost no interaction. But the Internet is comparatively symmetrical. Because the number of people who can also speak is effectively everyone. We can criticize, share or we can create our content too. Everyone is a speaker, which is a very good thing. But what we missed is that networking will also result in birds of the same feather flocking together.
The Internet we have today is not a portal to connectedness. It's basically a self-reflecting mirror. What do we get on the Internet; the things I like, the people who are alike, the opinions that I follow, the narrative that I want to listen to. It's so much about me. Today our phone is a virtual universe of relevant information, likeminded people, similar opinions. Like a virtual bubble. Where only such filtered information enters which the bubble can sustain and never burst. And as our online time is increasing, as our lives are getting more connected, we are also beginning to consider this virtual bubble our reality. And we are losing that which keeps us binded; by not listening to the other side of the story.
The Internet we have today is not a portal to connectedness. It's basically a self-reflecting mirror. What do we get on the Internet; the things I like, the people who are alike, the opinions that I follow, the narrative that I want to listen to. It's so much about me. Today our phone is a virtual universe of relevant information, likeminded people, similar opinions. Like a virtual bubble. Where only such filtered information enters which the bubble can sustain and never burst. And as our online time is increasing, as our lives are getting more connected, we are also beginning to consider this virtual bubble our reality. And we are losing that which keeps us binded; by not listening to the other side of the story.
You are rare. Your lecture is rare. You teach me how to be spiritual
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