I was sharing the parent’s myopic view. Maybe instagram and the like don’t bring you joy, but it certainly brings joy to many people, in addition to a way to stay connected with friends, keep up to date with event schedules like live music or new releases, and a means to run a business… to name a few.
> in addition to a way to stay connected with friends,
It's been exceptionally terrible at this for a long, long time now. For instance - had a friend I hadn't talked to in a while (as happens as you grow older, sometimes you only talk to people every 1-2 years but remain friendly) died recently. It popped up in my feed, somewhat as a shock to me - he had had cancer for the last year. Now, it's definitely on me for not keeping in contact more frequently, but I was shocked at how many updates about it I saw on his page that never once made it to my feed. Facebook didn't think a guy I'd been friends with on the platform for a decade and had 200+ mutual connections was anything I'd be interested in. It's explicitly anti-social by design.
As for the other things in your list, I've never found any value to any of that but I acknowledge some might. I also don't think you need a platform like FB/IG to do either of those things and the only value they provide is the network effect.
I think the jwagenet's point was that Instagram brings joy to many of its users, much like movies, video games, fine dining and skydiving can bring joy.
jwagenet|1 year ago
JohnMakin|1 year ago
It's been exceptionally terrible at this for a long, long time now. For instance - had a friend I hadn't talked to in a while (as happens as you grow older, sometimes you only talk to people every 1-2 years but remain friendly) died recently. It popped up in my feed, somewhat as a shock to me - he had had cancer for the last year. Now, it's definitely on me for not keeping in contact more frequently, but I was shocked at how many updates about it I saw on his page that never once made it to my feed. Facebook didn't think a guy I'd been friends with on the platform for a decade and had 200+ mutual connections was anything I'd be interested in. It's explicitly anti-social by design.
As for the other things in your list, I've never found any value to any of that but I acknowledge some might. I also don't think you need a platform like FB/IG to do either of those things and the only value they provide is the network effect.
nozzlegear|1 year ago