I deleted FB 15 years ago and haven’t missed it once.
I (maybe, kinda) miss what Facebook was like in, er, 2008-ish. But then again I was also 25 so maybe I just miss what life was like back then.
Same. I got on it in 2006 and it was great up until about 2010, 2013-2014 was when the shit started to hit the fan.
2013-2014 was when the timeline shifted from being a chronological timeline to a feed. The algo took over and it went to shit.
yeah. the platforms aren’t so bad in and of themselves, it’s the engagement algorithms that turn everything to shit.
just like IG, YT, video/music stremaing etc. you could stumble upon random and interesting shit… now the algo is just trying to shove kendrick lamar and joe rogan at me none stop because that is what is ‘popular’ and whatever shitty movie that netflix is trying to promote.
browsing is dead and search is also mostly broken. you can’t even effectively search for shit anymore.
the only place i can freely browse anymore is my local library. and discover lots of cool things. that experience on the internet is dead.
Not being stuck inside of an echo chamber really does wonders for the brain. And yes, I know the irony of saying this on Lemmy, but it’s true.
Lemmy isn’t really an echo chamber. It’s like saying going over to a friends place is an echo chamber because you and your friend get along. There’s nothing wrong with hanging out with people who share your values and beliefs.
The problem with social media are their algorithms. They aren’t designed to connect you with like-minded people, but to keep you engaged. The content that keeps people engaged tends to be terrible content.
The recent “a man or a bear” trend is a perfect example. Algorithms love divisive content like that because it drives engagement, but it also leads to people getting really upset over nothing. Lemmy doesn’t have any algorithms driving engagement so it doesn’t have that problem.
I strongly disagree.
I don’t think lemmy is necessarily an echochamber per se, rather its just a place where misinformation exists and opinions are manipulated.
Lemmy does use algorithms to show you the most engaging content, and there are absolutely bots and bad actors manipulating which content is prioritised.
The genocide Joe / vote abstinence thing was a very clear example.
… That’s not an echo chamber though. That’s propaganda and vote manipulation mostly by literal state actors and brainwashed rubes.
An echo chamber is when people literally self segregate enough to the point that they no longer consume almost any media that doesn’t fit their belief. Its exacerbated by large corporations who profit from ad revenue driven through user engagement.
Lemmy is not an echo chamber no more than the literal radio.
Reddit is not an echo chamber.
You can make these an echo chamber through varying degrees of ease. But places like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have been proven to drive you into one by exploiting ragebait for clicks.
You can say they’re both fruit, sure. But one is like eating cantaloupe and the other like eating bananas laced with speed.




