A conversation about platforms bringing people together, respect for diversity (also of opinion and culture) and enshittified walled gardens, between @ke5arin@mastodon.social and @andypiper@macaw.social with obligatory mention of @pluralistic@mamot.fr. 40 minutes well spent.

  • masterspace@lemmy.caEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    Undoubtedly, but we still chose to come to Lemmy because we visited it and saw a bunch of people that we mostly agreed with on it.

    Think about how many Lemmy users block hexbear or lemmy.ml, or would spit in disgust when they visit gab or voat or something.

    Users prune those sources because they aren’t interested in hearing wildly toxic fringe ideas (or flat out being propagandized to), but it’s still fundamentally up to you as a user to decide what you consider rationale and worthy of discussion, and then going forward the content you see on here is only what’s shared by very like minded individuals.

    Don’t get me wrong, I think that Reddit and other corporate owned social media intentionally promotes rage bait and other distressing content, both in comments and posts, and that drives people to go even more nuts and become more polarized compared to a non-engagement driven algorithm like Lemmy’s, but even open and decentralized social media platforms create filter bubbles and information silos.

    • Tad Lispy@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      1·
      3 days ago

      Sure. It’s in our nature to surround ourselves with like-minded people. Back in the old days, people would subscribe to a newspaper, watch TV and listen to radio stations, or go to pubs with folks they felt comfortable with, and that would often lead to gruopthink. There is only so much we can do about it with different platforms. The rest is up to us, individually and collectively. Being polite, open minded, thoughtful and critical takes effort. But it’s also in our nature.