baconmonsta

This sounds like a pretty good description of the situation.

I would add the seeming lack of true alternatives, as dems have repeatedly dropped the ball in the last few decades.

Pocket used to be on my list, but it was unfortunately shut down. Now Joplin web clipper took its place. I still miss Pocket.

This article was right up my alley. I've been considering buying a cheapo smartwatch. I suppose this one couldn't be used as a mp3 player for jogging though.

Glad to hear I'm not alone with these thoughts!

I propose, as a counter movement, automatic engagement; Instead of "liking" or "upvoting", leave a comment every time you see something you support. And try to abstain from commenting on ragebait or otherwise intentional attention seeking. If enough people start doing this, the algorithm should start adapting to prefering more substantial or positive material, right? I know it sounds naive, but worth a shot!

Yeah, it seems fishy. I find it hard to believe every 5th desktop in Finland runs linux, while only about 10% MacOS.

I understand what you mean, and agree that not everything needs to be put in words. At the same time though, it's really healthy to expose yourself to others even if you just write "I like the way you formulated this." or "Makes sense, I hadn't thought of it like this before". That way it turns into a real discussion - a bit like in the real 3d world.

Up/ downvoting is basically anonymous and adds nothing to the discussion.

And, sometimes, other users misunderstand our comments, and then we need to respond to them to get our point through. All of this is a healthy way to challenge our thinking.

What do you mean with chat control BS? Care to share a link?

That being said, there are a lot of worrying politicians out there.

I feel like at least in Germany privacy matters are alive and kicking thanks to GDPR / DSGVO

The problem with regulation is that most of these data giants are US companies, and due to regulatory capture since the 1980s you can't expect much to change there.

Amazing! I did not expect that outcome from my comment

I'm no expert, but I feel like anywhere they use an algorithm to drive up "engagement" it leads into people being fed rage-bait and then them acting accordingly. This "attention economy" needs to end somehow.