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I wouldn't want to associate this place with the garbage social media pits like Facebook and Instagram...
I liked the idea of calling it antisocial media, because it really is about building the opposite of what Facebook and Instagram is about.
You could call them antisocial then. The problem with social media isn't the social part, it's that the media part is controlled by a single entity.
The problems with social media absolutely include the social part and I'd even go as far as saying it's the biggest problem with it.
People post on social media like they're talking privately to their friends...whole lot of opinions they wouldn't dare say within punching distance of a stranger. And because it's to such a broad audience, they will find other people who will share the same awful opinions and feel validated, further entrenching their beliefs. It also encourages exaggerating or outright lying for attention.
Not to take away from the harm of data collection and targeted marketing, of course, but social media has a people problem. And to quote MIB, "A person is smart. People are dumb."
This idea that anonymity breeds toxicity seems to be a piece of received wisdom that people just assume, but I would honestly love to know if there's any real information to back it up.
I didn't know of any studies claiming either way but what I was referring to happens on sites like Facebook, too
Oh you mean how echo chambers get created. Yeah, that's almost entirely down to Facebook's scummy algorithms, not an inherent feature of people. Facebook had tools to prevent the spread of hate on their platform and noticed they reduced revenue so they turned them off. This is entirely down to that platform being controlled by a single entity with no regard for the people who use it.