This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
I fully agree.
*continues staring at screen for the next 15 hours
at least lemmy has the spirit of not being manipulated again.
Maybe, though I wouldn't be surprised if some social marketing shit-bags already have accounts on various instances.
I was just talking about that with a friend a couple days ago over a delicious Starbucks Frappacino™. We decided to meet up so he could show me his new iPhone XX Pro™. Great phone by the way.
We both thought viral marketing and astroturfing wouldn't probably be much of a factor on Lemmy, even if you're using a really smooth interface like Voyager™.
Personally I'm waiting for the iPhone XXX Ribbed Edition, I mean RED.
I know the iPhone XX Pro™ is pretty new, and exclusive to T-Mobile ™ with their comprehensive and afforable coverage. So there may be misconceptions about its abilities. There is an optional case made by the good people at Fleshlight ™ available which will satisfy your needs. Of course the free VPN service offered with every purchase will allow you to view your favorite video entertainment, even if you are a freedom loving American from the great state of Texas.
I've seen lots of attempts to market on Lemmy. Most get called out as spam and shut down quickly, but there's also exhalting of YouTubers and other influencers who in turn shill stuff like crazy.
Also the gaming subs are really bad for this because posting trailers and announcements about games seems to be viewed by some as a way of "padding" Lemmy with content, so as to make it not feel so empty here. If you ask me, we should welcome the emptiness, only posting about things we actually want to talk about. People who post dozens of game trailers, announcements, and patch notes are just flooding the feeds with things that may matter to nobody.
Lemmy would need to become significantly popular for it to be worthwhile for them to manipulate it; they might be laying the groundwork now. However, only time will tell. If Lemmy does become more popular, hopefully people here can effectively counteract any manipulation.
I think they may be pretty distracted by threads to be honest.
It will be. We are just not sure yet how because it precisely doesn't work like reddit or Facebook. But I am sure there are ways to manipulate here too, it may just be more elaborate.
Hahaha that’s crazy
scrolls
My 2 cents on this.
Stay off your phone.
Gaming consoles offer a better experience than the low-quality entertainment on phones and tablets.
Spending time on toxic social media is like feeding your brain junk food.
It's all designed to quickly exploit you.
I'd prefer my kids use a gaming console like the Switch instead of an iPad.
Gaming consoles just mean you've already bought into their walled garden. They don't need to use the same tactics the mobile games use; you're already trapped. Hell, you're probably already paying a monthly subscription for online play, and then there's still nothing stopping individual game publishers from further enshittifying on top of that!
No, what you should really be doing is gaming on PC (Linux), ideally with games bought DRM-free (e.g. from GoG) or even by only playing Free Software games. I personally compromise enough to accept Steam, but that really is at the absolute limits of acceptability (and only then because of factoring goodwill from all their work on Linux compatibility for games).
Emulation, baby.
Use your brains before your wallets.
Also don't pay for things you can get for free.
Hell yeah. I haven't been able to play jak x in literally a decade and I was able to start it up today and bask it's 480p glory. Next is laughing at the first killzone while still enjoying the story and trying out Demon's Souls for the first time.
It's how you use the tools that count, and I think both types need (self-)restrictions placed upon them to be maximally effective and fun. Even a gun has a use, within certain bounds e.g. Ukraine can put them to great use.
idk I use my phone to play chess, wingspan, Root, all kinds of games. There are a lot of really cool text adventures on mobile, plus Pokemon Go is mobile only. You can even play Minecraft on your phone ...
On Instagram I usually just see pictures about my friends lives, news, local events. The most well informed people I know are all active on social media. If all your kids are doing is playing console video games, they'll be disconnected. The most cutting edge news is on social media, and has been for years now. My phone is just a more comfortable way to do things. I could play chess and read the news on my laptop, but I don't want to.
This just reads like moral panic over tech you don't like ... you know, people used to fear-monger about books being too addictive and bad for you.
Doomscrolling on reddit, imgur, and twatter destroyed my mental health over a ~4-year period. I went cold turkey on all three about a year ago and there is a remarkable difference. They caused a great deal of anxiety, I just didn't realise it at the time.
It was also a near-addiction when I could just flick the mouse wheel and more content would show up, and oh my, suddenly it's 4am and I have work in 4 hours. r/ouchmyballs and r/watchpeopledieinside were particularly problematic.
How is Lemmy better than reddit for doomscrolling?
Less content on the whole. There are many "the world is sliding back into fascism"-type posts, but I don't feel compelled to scroll on the front page infinitely.
Yea wow. As a 90s kid I’d never thought of comparing smart phones to consoles. Great point. Gaming together on the couch or a truly fun and social activity and way more wholesome than doom scrolling
On a phone, I actually rarely get stuck for hours. Not only because most of my personal data has to stay off of it (it cannot have LineageOS or similar), but also because it is inconvenient af. No keyboard, small screen, everything is slow. The problem of infinitely going into rabbit holes solves itself, while on the laptop there has to be a lot more self-control - it is far more comfortable.
You guys ever notice how people only recommend movies/entertainment made in [CURRENT YEAR]?
Whenever I see someone recommend a movie, I immediately look up the year and discard their recommendation if it was released in the current year.
Too many great things go unnoticed because of useful idiots with more money than sense.
Similar with music. I am absolutely sure that the best music did not enter existence in the last year.
I get the sentiment, but that implies nothing good is being made. And even if the sentiment “nothing good is being pushed” were true, that wouldn’t be that same as not being made. Still tons of artists out there putting work in.
I didn't know that guinea pigs are common for lab rats.
What they haven’t realized is paying for living quarters for their tests. Give a homeless person a roof for watching ads all day?
I don't think the homeless are a typically sought-after demographic. Maybe for loan sharks?
Real estate agents love the homeless.
One issue though, the Homeless person can't buy products
I think I could tolerate it for a couple months at most. The problem is that good advertising doesn't exist very often so it's all just fucking annoying
Dang, that is a dystopian scenario for affordable housing. That's some black mirror Fifteen Million Merits stuff.
Full on conspiracy?
there are hidden interests and hands that pull the strings of the dynamics that are harmful
The conspiracy take would be that someone wants the specific negative outcome we have and is deliberately calibrating their actions to achieve it
“Hidden interests and hands” in this case more charitably refers to the vast complex system of distributed incentives that different actors in the system have. If everyone washes their hands of their own little corner of the problem and refuses to take accountability at any level, in aggregate it leads to negative outcomes at scale. And of course no individual actor would want to publicise knowingly looking the other way: thus, hidden interests and hands
A Bo Burnham fan I see
