Short one today – I have a lot to do, and a new contractor is stopping by soon to look over some projects and prepare a quote.
Something I ready yesterday that I feel is both good and bad – social media is now the main source of news for people.
Social media and video networks have become the main source of news in the US, overtaking traditional TV channels and news websites, research suggests.
More than half (54%) of people get news from networks like Facebook, X and YouTube – overtaking TV (50%) and news sites and apps (48%), according to the Reuters Institute.
“The rise of social media and personality-based news is not unique to the United States, but changes seem to be happening faster – and with more impact – than in other countries,” a report found.
It’s understandable, because trust in the traditional mainstream media is at an all time low, and there is plenty of evidence to show that they are less “news” and more “propaganda” these days. But that is a problem with social media as well – with the monetization programs on Twitter, accounts are seeking engagement to get paid, and what drives engagement? Sensational headlines and hot takes, whether it is truth or not.
For many of the accounts, everything is “breaking news” and actual information gets distorted into some bastardization of the truth to generate interest and a click. For instance, aside from the several accounts tweeting the “breaking news” that the US had refueled the Israeli jets for their attack and were involved in shooting down Iran’s retaliatory missiles, I still have not seen any additional confirmation. But they got the clicks so they get paid. This is nothing new, as traditional media outlets would do the same to drive traffic to their sites and generate revenue off ads, but the main difference is that with social media, your feed is typically curated to provide a feed of information that you agree with and you won’t necessarily see opposing viewpoints.
By building their own personal echo chamber, one is fostering the perfect environment for confirmation bias, and social media is the perfect system to do this. Frankly, my advice is to delete social media and live in the real world, but knowing how difficult it is to break the habit, the next best thing would be to include accounts that offer different perspectives.
But again, the best thing for you would be to shut it off then go outside and touch grass… which is what I’m going to do now.
Interesting Tidbits
Police issue mosh pit warning ahead of Download festival in Leicestershire this weekend – “Certain iPhone and Apple Watch models operate a “crash detection” feature – turned on by default – which is designed to identify a severe car crash and connect people to emergency services.”
Psilocybin provides benefit for people with cancer and major depression, clinical trial reveals – “New results from a clinical trial reveal that a single dose of psilocybin—a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in mushrooms—can provide sustained reductions in depression and anxiety in individuals with cancer suffering from major depressive disorder.”
Many Exporters No Longer Want Dollars, US Bank Executive Says – “Instead, they ask for settlement in euros, Chinese renminbi, the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar, looking to limit their exposure to further swings in the greenback.”
Senate Pushes Bill That Could End Private Messaging – “Encrypted platforms could become collateral damage in a legislative push that treats privacy itself as a liability”
Lies Used To Justify War On Iraq Get Reused To Wage War On Iran – “This tactic was employed in 2002/2003 to gin up a justification to attack Iraq, who the US insisted had weapons of mass destruction. We now know it was a lie, but the propaganda was effective in producing support in the US and Europe to invade Iraq”
Android Open Source Is Becoming a Controlled Experiment – “Despite Google’s claims that AOSP is not going away, the release of Android 16 tells a more complicated story. The expected open-source drop was missing key elements: Pixel device trees, driver binaries, and a complete kernel history.”
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