The Internet is a shithole

[Brian Peacock]

"Attention is currency in the marketplace of ideas."
-- Peter Coffin, Custom Reality and You, 2018.

[macdoc]

Like any tool it can used for positive outcomes or ill.
Up to you....don't blame the river if you can't paddle worth a shit.

[Sean Hayden]

So what you’re saying is people suck. I agree.

[macdoc]

Twas ever....

[Brian Peacock]

Like any tool it can used for positive outcomes or ill.
Up to you....don't blame the river if you can't paddle worth a shit.

The tech might be neutral (debatable), but the platforms certainly aren't. Developers draw on psychology and sophisticated statistical techniques in an unregulated data market (the algorithm) to gamify users attention with products designed to keep our hands, eyes, and brains occupied (they call this engagement) in order to turn a profit. Any deleterious impacts for the user or society are morally subsumed by the revenues generated - such that obligations to investors are always placed before any wider social obligations, and any attempt to regulate the impacts of the platforms is [URL,=https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marke ... egulation/]vehemently resisted[/URL] where it threatens profitability.

[Sean Hayden]

Has Social Media Fuelled a Teen-Suicide Crisis?

Mental-health struggles have risen sharply among young Americans, and parents and lawmakers alike are scrutinizing life online for answers.

By Andrew Solomon

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024 ... isis-teens

[aufbahrung]

Internet needs breaking up. It was supposed to be many nodes to survive a nuclear war, and was a far more entertaining place when it was in the hands of amateurs and small sites. These big companies are the cause of depression - gated cartels of meaning gonna depress anyone with a brain, they don't allow the side alleys where so much of the real action of life takes place in the real world.

[Sean Hayden]

According to a recent study that examined 33.5 million reviews for bestselling products on Amazon, almost every other of those, or 43%, were fake.

The study also found that nearly six in ten consumers rely on reviews when making online purchases. Even though 58% of shoppers said they believed five-star ratings were too good to be true, 43% said they would not buy a product with less than four stars.

The majority, 86%, said they needed to see at least a three-star review average to even consider buying a product, especially if it’s computers and electronics that they’re after.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, out of 2.6 million reviews in the computers and electronics category, more than half were found to be unreliable.

Still, it pales in comparison to clothes, shoes, and jewelry, a category with the highest proportion of fake feedback. Fakes accounted for 88% of the 4.5 million reviews analyzed in the study.

https://cybernews.com/security/millions ... iews-fake/

[Tero]

Yeah i found that out firsts with Birkenstocks. The company will not sell the ral product on Amazon.

[Brian Peacock]

Gen Alpha kids are obsessed with skin care thanks to ‘skinfluencers’ and TikTok. Some adults are concerned

Fourth grader Naiya White knows what you think about her twice-daily beauty regimen and her Sephora shopping trips.

“I heard all you guys were freaking out about 10-year-olds using skin care,” she says in a TikTok video posted last month, standing outside a Sephora store in Grand Junction, Colo. “So let’s go pick some out!”

Moments later, White is making her way down the hot pink Glow Recipe aisle in an oversize Lilo & Stitch T-shirt and sparkly green eyeliner, ticking off her favorite products in rapid succession.

“I’d recommend this avocado cleanser; it’s nourishing and gentle,” she says, holding up a $28 tube of face wash. “The mist is also a yes — it makes your skin look super glowy and it’s hydrating. This moisturizer is also one of my favorites and it smells delicious. The hyaluronic Plum Plump balm is a great sleep mask for lips.”

In conclusion, she says with more than a hint of sass, “For all the cranky, musty, dusty adults out there who think little kids shouldn’t be using skin care ... get it together!”

Naiya, 10, is part of a fast-growing army of preteens who are swarming into beauty stores around the country and buying up cleansers, moisturizers, toners, face masks and, in some cases, potent anti-wrinkle serums, exfoliants and peels that are intended to slow the aging process in much older consumers. They’re showing off their multi-hundred-dollar hauls and elaborate morning and nighttime routines on TikTok, where the catchphrase “Sephora Kids” has been hashtagged more than 11,000 times...

In my day our biggest skin concern was acne, whether we had it or not. Maybe being a bit tanned was better than being pale. We weren't obsessed with sagging, wrinkles or hair loss - though we were irresponsible about spending money on other branded stuff, and letting others know about it. But 10 year old influencers reviewing, promoting and using dodgy skincare products? Why do they need to worry about looking old?

It's not their doing though, is it?

[Sean Hayden]

Come on Brian, corporations are people too, and we mustn’t silence their adsopinions.

[Svartalf]

fuck corporations, I don't need shareholders to open up, I already know what they want.

[Brian Peacock]

Come on Brian, corporations are people too, and we mustn’t silence their adsopinions.

Yeah, sorry, I forgot.

[Sean Hayden]

Australia passes landmark social media ban for children under 16

The ban, among the toughest in the world, has broad public support but has been criticized by experts who say it could have unintended negative consequences.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/aust ... rcna181124

[JimC]

Every political action has unintended negative consequences...