Submitted 1 week ago by JayEchoRay@lemmy.world to videos@lemmy.world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJpZjg8GuA
An almost 38 minute video about one man’s opinion about how the curated algorithmic experiences on the modern Internet have an effect on people and how it has shaped how it is being used.
35-45 year olds just sitting here with our bookmarks, subscriptions and 100s of tabs open. We also are the last gen that builds and repairs our own devices. It’s a generation thing, if there is a lazy way the youth will find it and embrace it.
I’m in that age bracket and one of my best friends, about a month ago, started using chatgpt instead of a search engine.
We went to dinner after work and the place was closed. I went back to my car to grab something and when I got back he was fiddling with his phone and frustrated. He said ‘i’m trying to figure out (using chatgpt) if this other place is open.’. I just opened Google maps, it had the opening hours and I clicked directions and we were on our way.
Known this guy forever and I found it weird he would think that was better.
I’ve never used any LLM, so I can’t comment on their quality, but at least around here the hours listed on Google (or any other large search engine) are frequently … Shall we say, not based on reality.
It’s a temporary thing. People try out ChatGPT and it’s amusing enough to try some more until you realize it’s absolute dogshit.
Most surprising thing to me was how few people use the “subscriptions” feed on Youtube. It’s been the default way I’ve been using it for as long as I’ve been on the platform.
I also remember when Facebook introduced the algorithmic feed and thought the concept was utterly ridiculous.
I’ve found myself transition from subscriptions to the feed over the years. My subscriptions became such a long list of past interests while the feed somehow almost always seems to know what I want. It’s exactly the poisonous quick dopamine hack that every other social media is also abusing. I hate it, but at the same time I don’t quite have the energy to fight it. After I arrive at home tired from work and grocery shopping I just need some quick entertainment, and the feed usually knows wat better what I want than my own subscriptions.
I love that he points out there is nuance to all of this at the end
Yeah, there is a lot of evolving information, yet for now one can still have some measure of control over the content one can engage with
Excellent video, Technology Connections is one of my favourite channels.
I thought this video was going to be “old man yells at cloud”, but it made me think about some posts I’ve seen on Lemmy. You know the ones I mean, people who are new and asking about how to tailor the experience to their own tastes, usually political tastes.
I always thought it was silly to expect the internet to put bespoke content in front of you with minimal effort. But maybe I’m just behind the times. Why wouldn’t you expect the platform to track your behavior and promote what it recons will keep you scrolling? That’s what’s normal I guess.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Way back, I found it hard to discover new people to follow on Mastodon, and I found myself wishing for a little bit of algorithmic feed, as a treat. I found it a shame that people were increasingly becoming anti-algorithm, full stop, because I think that algorithmic recommendation engines could be so powerful if they were leveraged for good (which, for many people, isn’t the endless scrolling or maximal engagement that the current system optimises for).
I need to get round to setting up an RSS reader. I’ve heard that a few of those have an option to give some level of algorithmic recommendations, whilst still prioritising the stuff you’ve already opted into seeing.
I think this is where the nuance is and where the things can go off the rails. Your example is that you want to more easily be connected with people that you enjoy engaging with but find it hard to find - which you did attempt to find a work around for, which I do commend.
I think because of the volume of scale of the internet it has been fine-tuned and engineered towards benefiting the major players more as they have taken convenience features and frankenstein’d it into a tool of “increased engagement”.
It is like a market square and everyone is shouting out their wares at the same time and the major players (and others) have done their research on how to be the “loudest and most attention-grabbing hawker at the square”
Here the algorithm approach is useful to help “silence the sea of voices” and find “hawkers” that sell “products” that are of interest to you. It does require some discipline on the users part to curate their “hawkers”, but overall the experience is improved as one deals with “products” that is aligned with one’s interests.
I feel, in general, however that the intent has been twisted into something that has become a slippery slope that slides down towards “how can I get eyes on my thing and keep people coming back” for as long as possible. One’s attention gets bombarded with as many ideas as possible and, from this, one’s scope starts to bloat and becomes muddy as one processes too many different ideas and viewpoints in a short time frame and as a result one spends less time forming a individual opinion. I believe this does contribute to shorter attention spans as we attempt to “offload” our thinking onto something else as we try to make sense of all the information we take in.
The easiest thing I can think of is TikTok and how quickly the short video format was incorporated into the big platforms.
It is a human shortcoming I feel that gets taken advantage of (and I feel like it is being cultivated) and as humans we do have a side to us that tries to optimise the shit out of a things - often to our detriment.
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 1 week ago
You can just say “Technology Connections” - we’ll watch it!
JayEchoRay@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I was served the channel by the algorithm and was concerned with the length so I attempted to share in a neutral manner unsure on reception.
I found it interesting and wanted to share the opinion
KnightontheSun@lemmy.world 1 week ago
38 minutes is too long? What a world we have when folks cannot pay attention longer than a tiktok vid. Perhaps that isn’t you, but I cringe that we have to think about that. No offense intended.
TC is a treasure, btw. Go back and view some of his other content. Not too long ago I watched his dishwasher video as I had just installed a new one. I learned quite a lot and I assumed I knew most things about them. He also explains things so thoroughly that my mother was able to follow along and appreciate the information. His demeanor helps as well. Love the guy. Thanks for the post!