[eddieh]

It was much easier and healthier for me to just leave Twitter (never gonna call it the other name). In fact, I’ve left nearly all of social media. It would be nice to get away from all algorithmic content feeds. Maybe someday.

[nomilk]

Social media apps have downsides, but I find the algorithmic short videos on facebook ("reels") quite incredible. The algo seems to suggest mostly science; niches I would never have known about, let alone had an active interest in, had the algo not suggested them.

I suspect experiences using social media apps differ wildly from person to person.

[enaaem]

X is by far the least fun social media app. I tried it and I never got the appeal. Just stick to insta for lighthearted content.

[BeFlatXIII]

> I find the algorithmic short videos on facebook ("reels") quite incredible

Mine discovered that I go wild for horse videos. The fewer humans on screen, the better.

[vintermann]

I had an amazing experience with Facebook shorts! What happened was I...

I had an amazing experience with Facebook shorts! What happened was I...

I had an amazing... (hits the close button)

[alias_neo]

I only ever used Twitter for news because it was were all of the big names were;, but I stopped using it entirely when it took a massive dive after the recent sale. I checked back a couple of days ago, and top of my feed was some BS take on a subject (I forget what), and _every_ _single_ response was from a blue-tick agreeing with it, I immediately knew I can close it and not come back unless I want to click through to a specific tweet for whatever reason.

[bjornsing]

It pains me but I’m leaning in this direction too. I found the idea of a digital town square with a commitment to maximum truth appealing, but seeing what Twitter has become it’s hard to not feel this was naive of me.

To me the big blow was seeing the response to what’s happening in Gaza and what narratives people and algorithms in combination end up promoting. The thoughtful, balanced, humanistic view gets approximately zero traction, while completely untruthful propaganda (on both sides) has enormous reach.

Maybe it’s an insurmountable problem. Human defense mechanisms in combination with algorithms will always push people to tribalism and cheering for atrocities. I hope not, but seems like it.

I guess you could take the OPs approach of filtering out all the propaganda and keep contributing. But then you are effectively working for a propaganda machine free of charge, helping create value that will draw others in to be subjected to the propaganda.

[soco]

"completely untruthful propaganda" honest question: how are you able to discern that?