Bar chatter - food for thought on social media these days

 

Today we say two random things on social media, because we feel like it.

How beautiful.

So, friends, do you like social media? Do you use them? Which ones and why? And if you don’t like them, what is the reason?

I personally have always used them quite a bit, obviously especially as a teenager.

I belong to the generation that saw the birth of social media, their advent, their novelty, in a world where the only source of digital entertainment was mostly television, it was a revolution: a new interactive entertainment, personalized and customizable.

Over time they then merged with smartphones, becoming portable and therefore capable of introducing themselves even more into our lives.

Now, the impact of smartphones and social media on society is certainly a beautiful and intellectual topic, but we'll leave that for next time, perhaps.

Today I want to offer you a much more down-to-earth reflection, suitable for everyone, fool-proof, on the world of social media: don't you think the issue has gotten slightly out of hand?

Apart from the most obvious things, the fact that they create addiction, malaise, alienation, encourage depression in adolescents, as they numb already fragile personalities still in the process of forming, and many other things, the point is precisely around the their purpose. 

Of course the first aim is to make money, for those who invented and proposed this tool to the world, but secondly, the aim was, at least, for us poor assholes, who by using the platforms, enriched the Zuckerberg of the moment, that of, simply, have fun and entertain ourselves.

Fortunately, far from the first idea of ​​Zuckerberg, who had initially created, while still at university, an online platform to give votes to girls, cheering up the most popular ones, and probably mortifying the less fascinating and less voted girls, at least the first Facebook, but also the first Instagram, they were designed to connect people, and mess around a bit.

You could follow the profile of Tom, a Canadian woodcutter, see his photos, his life, his comments on Facebook like "tom is thinking he has to cut more wood before winter", and he could see the comments and photos of the kids in Milan or the comments on Facebook like “Marietto can't wait to go old fashion disco to pick a fight with the bouncer”.

Well, it was an innocent, fun thing, for any generation it was like that, connecting, seeing each other, thinking about each other, writing to each other.

Each person then, based on their age, sought different answers from their social profile, it was clear that for teenagers it was essential to have many "friends" and contacts, while for adults it might perhaps be important to find lost contacts, things from their time, to compare themselves with a new medium that had never existed before, in the history of humanity.

Then the first situations of economic partnership were introduced, the offers, even new job opportunities, economic developments, brands, comments and likes, things that were all in all normal and not even wrong, even positive.

So then, you know it, social media has grown,  stuff happened, users, money, things, scandals, data management, decidedly questionable characters, and we have arrived here.

So, I honestly ask myself, having reached this point, what the heck is social media for?

It's not even so much the Internet, which is fundamental and very important, could it exist forever, or the existence of online platforms in general, that is also positive.

It's really the question of social media, as we understand it now.

Aside from the superficiality it pushes, the scandals, the espionage, all the scams and tricks of the various magnates who own the platforms around the world, what are they for, I wonder.

Let's pretend that we don't give a damn about being spied on by the Chinese, i simply wouldn't feel more stimulated to communicate anyway, follow Tom the woodcutter, learn about things and become "globalized", or flex the photos of my holiday in St. Tropez.

The platform is only used for making "purchases".

Well yes, gentlemen, the impression is that social media has become a supermarket, you can spend spend get stoned stoned buy consume and die, you can receive the adverts for the Indian food that you mentioned to your grandmother 3 seconds before, or better yet you can see the twerk by Pisellina99 who wants to take you to her onlyfans channel to tell, only to you, her most intimate secrets.

And so, so to speak, it doesn't matter whether you follow sports, art, photography, Paolo Bonolis pages on social networks or you have liked nicepeter's profile, on your home page you will find giant busty asses, at full blast, ballets seductive and disjointed sentences.

Therefore the experience is no longer customizable, the user no longer decides what he wants to see.

The algorithm will make the most popular things appear on your home page, which it deems to be suitable for everyone, but this is the problem, before social media was also a conformist way to emancipate oneself, I follow my things that are of interest to me, our social profiles could also be totally different. No one would have interfered with my choices, while now, if everyone follows Gigetta74, a single mother full of life, I have to follow her too, or at least see her contents, and therefore consequently waste time blocking her.

Not to mention that many people are now disappearing from social media, generations are growing up, many platforms have failed miserably, other new ones have appeared, but if social media world should have been a tool for sharing and perhaps even information, well it's not, I don't know what it is, you tell me, but it certainly doesn't encourage sharing, much less information. Also for this purpose, they have been replaced by other platforms for a long time now.

Then another burning topic, censorship. 

It's simply chaos, social media now seems to have become an open-air sewer, without control, a deepweb of dung, pure anarchy.

Since teenagers mind their own business, normal and decent people have better things to do, so many people are left to comment on social media, they are the average people, the imbeciles, the bored, or even worse, those in bad faith.

How many times have I seen the concept of freedom of speech overturned: I came across pages of fascists, nationalists who spoke of genocides and horrible things, without any knowledge of the facts, spreading misinformation, and above all with aberrant tones, spitting on memory of a lot of people, things that I won't list for you one by one, but trust me, if you are even an averagely intelligent person, it would have frustrated you.

So the social media decides to delete my comment, in which I point out how certain speeches and comments really have a fascist touch, like, ignorant average rude people, study up.

But my comment is not good, while their absurd and ultra-right posts are fine, there is no problem.

Because I rightly cannot denigrate other people's ideas, everyone has the right to express themselves, and covertly calling a fascist community a fascist is not accepted.

Mmmh.

So, gentlemen, I am not crazy, I am not too politicised, my ephemeral life will continue for another unspecified number of decades, so I don’t necessarily care that that much, I do not deny anyone the word, I am not a racist, I am not ignorant, not completely at least, I'm not in bad faith, but can we say: what the fuck?!

When it comes to objective bullshit, objective disinformation, objective fake news, objective bad faith, give a few excuses, there's no point in boasting about the values ​​of democracy, just shut your mouth!

Otherwise the situation would then be reversed, I would become a "fascist" because I don't allow others to say how much of a funny guy Hitler really was, while the others become democrats because, poor victims, they just wanted to express their absurd ideas, we are going mad.

How censorship criteria are decided, when the word “fascism” can be used without attracting the attention of the artificial intelligence that provides censorship, when and why content becomes harmful, is no longer clear, it simply seems no-one could care less.

And so one might say, well, then let's decide these canons, once and for all,

Well then, let's take for example when Trump fomented the assault on the Capitol, using that cesspool of Twitter, and was subsequently banned, only to then get his profile back from that great visionary Elon.

Apart from the fact that I hope there is no need to explain why that was a bad and illegal gesture, especially given Trump's position, has it been decided that we live in a democratic world? Yes? So what Donald was doing was wrong, even his supporters should understand it, therefore he was banned from the platform.

Has humanity understood, throughout history, that violence is wrong, and so are racism, discrimination, fascism, coercion, totalitarian regimes, oppression? That all these things are wrong, it's bad to kill, genocides are not tender and nice things, that acts of coercion and arrogance in the long run only lead to problems and failures, then, damn, I don't understand why all this hesitancy, all this political correctness which prevents us from intervening promptly with an iron fist to shut the mouths of those who still push these values ​​and ideals. 

But no, because basically anyone has the right to say literally anything. (All this in the context of social media, which forms little souls, although it wouldn't be necessary wrong to maybe apply this concept to broader issues of everyday life, but for this reason much more professional analyzes would be needed, so let's let those who have studied and those who know speak) (here is just bar chatter)

And I'm not even talking about the conspiracy theorist communities of the moon which is a scalene triangle or the anti-vaxxers because those are just imbeciles and they don't hurt anyone except themselves, so who cares.

But if we talk about topics such as democracy and freedom, geopolitics, history, we read about everything, and it seems, among other things, that the average social media user nowadays has dictatorial tendencies.

All the reflection of a society where, as long as things don't happen to you, we don't care, it doesn't affect us, everything is worth it.

Maybe most people don't give a damn about this topic, but then don't ever forget the middle finger when you pass the Scientology headquarters.

So, what do I do with these social media?

I used them, and I also enjoyed them, I always tried to use them in the best way, filling them with the information of interest to me, always looking for the most reliable sources, or simply entertaining myself by filling them with sports, music, art, photos of friends who I follow, huge flex of holidays directly from the Monte Carlo casino.

Now I almost don't use them anymore, maybe just one or two every now and then, out of curiosity, but it becomes increasingly difficult to manage the contents since the algorithm often ignores my tastes, and just serves me the usual rubbish.

So why do I still keep active profiles? Because in any case some good human being who manages pages of good entertainment and/or information is still there, and I have also saved many photos of my life, adolescence, holidays, memories, which it would be a shame to lose, so I keep them save. Very simple reasons, and I remain in my comfort zone, with things as they are organized, since looking for new beaches on social media is very dangerous, you risk finding a lot of BOREDOM and misinformation.

Just think that until 50 years ago, life wasn't that different, people didn't live in caves but in houses with running water and electricity.

There were certainly fewer technologies, fewer discoveries in the scientific field, and other things, politics, society and blah blah but, all in all, we lived in a similar way to today.

And it is precisely after the industrial revolution that this lifestyle was more or less established.

And so social media could bring a digital revolution, a new way of life, a new frontier, at least that's what I thought in my adolescent naivety.

But the point is that, all in all, I believe that it can still be like this, in some way, which is why, social media still remains important. 

Furthermore, a lot of users still use them on a daily basis all over the world, social networks move and will still move a lot of money, all things considered they can still be used in a decent way, work on them, or try to find vaguely valid information and entertainment, and therefore what 'is their future?

Difficult to say, in the near future honestly nothing much, but in the more distant future, perhaps there will truly be virtual digital worlds, like a metaverse, or an "oasis", as in the film "Ready player one" by Spielberg, (a world virtual simulation, a real alternative to reality) would be sensational developments and innovations, with roots in another era, another glimpse of existence, which however we will not be allowed to witness, which could change people's lifestyle , a true digital revolution.

And this would be really interesting, and why not, even beautiful.

However, if the premises of this revolution, of this radical change, should be based on current social media, I don't know, the scenario could be even more catastrophic and alienating than one might think.

Think today, when we look back in time, in the context of innovations, how many illustrious minds, prominent figures, intellectual minds shaped by knowledge and study.

And think if perhaps, in 2189, little Gabriel-8374-33-C will ask himself what the beginning of the digital world in which he lives was, and what the conditions were for reaching it, and he will discover that the premise of the digital freedom he enjoys in 2189, was the need to grant Salsiciotta91 a personal space on the web 165 years earlier, where she could express her autonomy, her intellectual property, her redemption.

Or is it important that even Johnny45 who knows how to talk to women, knows how to oil his biceps, knows how to command respect, knows how to move in mafia circles because he is a real alpha, a real beefcake always ready for contact, with the stone carved in face, have his space and sponsorships and his clips of memes around the web of his ungrammatical interviews with “La zanzara”

Good God, I hope poor Gabriel-8374-33-C can also find some Nova Lectio videos, or Geopop content, to name a few, otherwise he might really end up wondering what the fuck world he's living in.