Well it's a social network owned by man who makes Nazi salutes. It is self-selecting.

I find that it's not just X/Twitter.

Reddit and YouTube is also completely dissociated from reality (and I would assume same goes for all other social networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, etc.).

Outside of small, or hobby oriented communities it's so clicks/engagement optimized that the "boring reality" loses out to manifactured content.

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rootusrootus a day ago | parent | next [-]

> Reddit and YouTube is also completely dissociated from reality (and I would assume same goes for all other social networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, etc.).

Yes I think it's pretty universal. But it cannot be all blamed on algorithms -- HN is often unhinged too. Way better moderated than Reddit, but there is still a pretty large disconnect between what looks like reality here and what I see when I step out into the real world.

	▲	disgruntledphd2 12 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Yes I think it's pretty universal. But it cannot be all blamed on algorithms -- HN is often unhinged too. Way better moderated than Reddit, but there is still a pretty large disconnect between what looks like reality here and what I see when I step out into the real world. Because the people commenting on any site are a weird subgroup of humanity. Most people just browse.

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tancop a day ago | parent | prev [-]

It's because "boring reality" is the least real thing in the world. No one can experience statistical trends but everyone can relate to a story.

I don't know about you but I see myself and everyone else in my life as a character, with a role in the life-story of every person they meet. And none of these stories are boring. Everyone in the world has a nuanced personality, unique memories and almost infinitely complex mind.

It only becomes boring when you abstract all of that away, to create models (like physics or economics) that are often very useful but don't relate that much to lived experience. The "dissociated" stories win because they're closer to what people actually see.