this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2025
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Fixing social media is like fixing guns so they can't hurt or kill anyone anymore. Both have been designed for a very particular purpose.
Lemmy is social media. So is Mastodon. So is peer tube. And everything else in the fediverse.
So I wouldn’t compare social media to a gun, across the board.
What is not social media? Were the forums from before Friendster, MySpace, Facebook social media too? I don't know anyone here. Is a mall a house?
Social media is defined by users being the main source of content. Not by friendship or acquaintance. Fox News is not social media, because you can’t just upload content to Fox News.
All those platforms work the same way. In the end it's all about the same social dynamics, about control. "We are the alternative to all the shitty peer groups out there! Join us!" is one of the oldest tricks in the playbook. There is no alternative. Because it's all based on human nature.
Reddit certainly had its problems but was actually pretty good for the ~15 years before it started getting enshittified more and more to try to extract value.
The AlGoRyThMs are what is inducing the social damage.
Even games of chance (like Poker Machines and) would be less destructive if they were fairer and less engaging.
But who writes those algorithms and AIs? And why? And why do they work?
Social media hasn't been designed to cause these problems, though. It's more a babelfish thing.
Every problem is an opportunity to earn even more money or gain even more power. Bad for average users, great for those who own and control the platform.