I do wonder what’s going to happen in the future to addictive social media algorithms. Feels like one of those things that’s so powerful, but skirts by because it doesn’t feel like it should be (like targeted advertising).

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jrflo 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I really hope it gets legislated away or kneecapped to the point where it isn't so effective. With all the legislation coming out regarding kids and social media, I hope that people will start to draw a line to the fact that maybe adults shouldn't be hooked up to it too. I don't think all content recommendation algorithms should go away, but we need to dial down the intensity by an order of magnitude or two.

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andrewrn 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

With the amount of money behind them, I regret to say I don’t think they’ll get legislated away. My best guess is that social shaming slowly dwindles their usage. It’s actively shameful to scroll at dinner among Gen Z, for example. The problem becomes using the apps alone at home.

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drunner 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Can we just ban algorithms for content and go back to chronological feeds circa 2004 Facebook?

Or maybe ban all content that the user isn't explicitly subscribed to.

Those both have problems too, I'm sure.

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shaewest 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I think the major issue is, people still have the option of those older forms of feeds, people just don't like them.

New social media competitors (ie Tiktok) have won users by having even more powerful algorithms rather than other options.

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demibabs 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Of course, but the users can’t be trusted to stay away from something designed to addict them. Only real solution is regulation, although the how is still a big question mark.

	▲	shaewest 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I would ask, where is the line drawn between 'enjoyment and addiction.' Is it the harm provided? Then what do we count as harm, and where is the line. IE, There's no one stopping me from eating unhealthy, IE sugary foods, which are heavily addictive. I ride a motorbike, and I'd consider myself addicted to that, and it's got a high chance of harm, but we don't ban those. Ditto with gaming, social media, hobby XYZ. I personally think the freedom to choose your vice is reasonable.

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itake 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

How? The 2 feeds on my IG account: "posts" and "reels" show content of people that I do not follow.

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dumberquestions 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Instagram definitely doesn't have the option but youtube for instance does, there's a subscription tab that's collecting dust in most people's accounts.

	▲	arxari 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		NewPipe even has the subscription feed pretty centered

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TJSomething 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Chronological feeds tend to be gameable by growth hacking. Still better than a lot of things.

One of the tricky things for me is feed aggregation for balancing subscriptions between people who post a lot and people who don't.

It also might be interesting if video recommendations were curated feeds by the creator.

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jrflo 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I build a safari extension to do just this (block all content that isn't explicitly subscribed to by the user) and it's a remarkably better experience. This is my hot take that most people seem to disagree with: the vast majority of culture wars we are having today would not exist without content recommendation algorithms.