this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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@JCPhoenix I see! Your answers are very helpful! One of the topics that I wanted to engage more with from my class was whether the for you page-less format of Mastodon helps contribute to any type of good/bad effect on information overload, and whether this kind of decentralization affected the argument that the internet is progressing to become an information utopia/dystopia.
I apologize for the long reply, but do you have any thoughts on this?
No worries, I enjoy conversations like this. Though would you mind explaining what you mean by "page-less format of format of Mastodon?"
@JCPhoenix We also learned about information utopias and dystopias, where tools like social media contribute to negative and positive experiences as a result of their vitality in our lives. I also would love to get your thoughts on whether or not a website like Mastodon contributes to either the utopia or dystopia direction that social media is taking society.
I think Mastodon is better since it's not algorithmic. I could create a bubble of negativity (or positivity) if I wanted to on Mastodon, but I'd have to go out there and search for it and then build it, right? It's different from maybe, on Twitter, tweeting something negative, then the algorithm serving me up similar negative content, which I consume, which gives me more, so and so forth.
In addition, I definitely don't spend as much time on Mastodon as I do on, say, Instagram or YouTube, which is serving me content algorithmically. That's probably a positive, too.
Though given that IG and YT are more unidirectional -- content creator serves content to viewer with little in the opposite direction, other than comments -- whereas Twitter and Mastodon are more multidirectional, with conversation happening between people in the threads, that it's more of a "true" communications platform, the lack of the algorithm on Mastodon does make it more difficult to have those spontaneous interactions. Whether that's a good thing or not probably depends on the person. Some people just want to consume content, while others want to participate in the content. I guess that's kinda tangential to your question!
@JCPhoenix Cool! I don't think its tangential at all actually. A large part of social interaction is the fact that the response you get is more often than not dependent on what you wanted going in.
Do you think that finding your own communities and content on Mastodon might be a solution for mitigating the spread of misinformation? Should more platforms consider adopting the same decentralized style?