Algorithmic social media is stealing your joy and may be making your life dramatically worse. If you haven't watched The Social Dilemma, you probably should sit down and give it a view, especially if you have kids.
Advertising + Algorithm
Misalignment of incentives
Business model in which incentive is to find customers ready to pay to modify someone else's behavior
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The Algorithm
Get you to the app and keep you there
Movie Social Dilemma gets it Wrong
Negative trumps positive
Dopamine hit
Addictive, but mostly shallow or perhaps b/c of shallowness
Tribalism & Mob Behavior
Magnification of Fringe Views
Makes assholes more assholey
Attention is the reward on social media, and assholery gets the most attention
Loss of Objective Reality
Individual Apps
The Worst!!!
A bunch of you are there so EMCrit has to announce new episodes there
Just as evil
Sponsored Tweets
Built to inflict misery and turn people into assholes
Reub–bring it to Reddit
Twitter happiness feed
Youtube
Turn off “Up Next”
TikTok
Insanely addictive
Netflix
Algorithm with the right incentives
The News
Algorithm
If you can't change it, don't regard it as important
not just creating an echo chamber
but actually sculpting Truth based on a political agenda
- Switching over to Hey Email
- DuckDuckGo
RSS
The way to have social media goodness come to you
Turn off Notifications
for any social media and for anything else possible
Go Deep instead of Shallow
If you have kids, avoid social media until ~16
Jonathan Haidt
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More Stuff to Check Out
- How to go from being an Ass-hole to an AYS-hole on Twitter
- 7 Ways to be Insufferable on Facebook
- How to Use RSS and Itunes to Maximize FOAM Podcasts
- The Online Hierarchy of Needs – Social Media and FOAM
Please ReRead 1984
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Great cast, I agree with a lot of it. You specifically mention all the benefits of YouTube, and have in the past. I’m curious-which medical resources do you use on there? I have found lots of amazing things in other fields, but don’t have anything medical currently.
have not found anything worthwhile medical-wise on youtube
I’ve found a few good videos on procedures, such as the one you did on pigtail cath chest tubes
Scott,
Emergency Medicine boot camp is outstanding.
Excellent post. I’m currently one month post deleting all my social media. I miss only a handful of people on Instagram that post FOAMED stuff that isn’t available elsewhere. The polarization of society is getting scary.
Would love to see another follow-up podcast on the Getting Things Done episode, how things have evolved for you, etc. I LOVED that podcast!! Would also enjoy hearing your thoughts on the book How to Take Smart Notes and whether it altered your system of information collection.
I also would love an update about that
So just to make sure you’ve seen them, you are talking about an update beyond the 2 f/us: (ep. 209 & the Wee).
I will be doing an episode soon on ROAM Research and How to Take Smart Notes–it is in the works as we speak!
Excellent podcast ! The recent book of Cal Newport «Digital minimalism» is a great read on the subject & how to be more mindful with our technology.
Also, i’m really interested having your take on ROAM Research ! Really happy to learn there is an episode on the way !
Just in case you haven’t seen it, here an interesting link on using ROAM Research in GTD style task management by The Sweet Setup folks
https://thesweetsetup.com/using-roam-research-for-gtd-style-task-management/
Scott, you mention being a stoic. Can you recommend literature about applying a stoic way of thinking to our modern life?
I realized that I don’t watch news etc. for the same reason as you: It only makes you miserable and you cannot do anything about the things you learn there.
episode is coming
This has been a bit of a game changer of a podcast. The reading recommendations are really very good – thank you.
I’ve taken positive action after reading Lanier’s book. Hoping this makes the world a better place, even in a tiny way.
thanks Dean!!
Excellent podcast. This is a subject that I have been looking at for a while as well. Haidt’s book is an excellent read. Another good book on the same subject is World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech by Franklin Foer.
I’ll check it out, Matt