I don't think most people are on either extreme, but the media does make it seem that way, along with reddit/twitter/bluesky etc.

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aydyn 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

Dont pretend like HN is much better, judging by the sheer magnitude of Flagged comments here.

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TinkersW 5 days ago | parent [-]

I do see many comments at the bottom that appear to have been deleted, but I can't see what they said, so it isn't possible to know if it was deserved.

	▲	aydyn 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		You could see them get flagged in real time lol. A lot of people here are no better than reddit. Worse in some ways because they wrap their gravedancing in an additional layer of pseudointellectualism.

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logicalmind 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I think the main problem of social media in general is that it allows for people to find things to instigate them. In essence, a single person's opinion can be amplified. This leads to at least two outcomes. One being that people "on the side" of that opinion will unite into an echo chamber of people with that opinion. Two being that people "on the other side" of that opinion will use it to justify the need for their unification and propagate it through their echo chamber.

Prior to social media, or the internet in general, it was quite difficult to amass large numbers of people in your echo chamber without becoming a person of power (like a president or equivalent). But today, it isn't uncommon for someone with views towards conspiracies or extreme viewpoints to become a "popular" voice in social media. In fact, one might argue that it is easier to become popular by being divisive. Even though most people aren't on either side. The ability to grow a "large enough" side is enough to become an existential threat to the other side. And they end up justifying their own existence.

I don't know what the solution to this is. I don't even know how to reduce it at this point.

	▲	alickz 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I think it doesn't help that outrage generates the most engagement out of any emotion So the algorithms that prioritise engagement reward outrage, and the social media users who want to be engaged with tend towards posting outrage It leads to people sitting around being angry at something or someone for hours on end, multiple days a week (if not daily) It doesn't lead to a healthy mind or a healthy society
	▲	TinkersW 5 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes the two extremes feed off each other, and make everything worse for the rest of us. Personally I think there needs be laws regarding social media, perhaps limiting the number of followers/viewers for anyone engaged in social or political commentary, and/or making promotion of political content illegal if it is false or misleading. Something akin to the fairness doctrine that used to exist for television prior to 1987.