As anyone who remembers the 90s/00s can remember, the internet was supposed to liberate us. Free access to information meant everyone would be educated and informed, and able to freely communicate and organize.
That’s not what happened. Corporations turned it into a tool of oppression. Technology has never and will never save us from capitalism on its own. Since the early 1900s we’ve been capable of providing food, housing, and medical care to everyone but we don’t. Technology cannot change that.
Social media is a particularly vile tool. It allows corporations to totally shape the reality of people who use it. To the point where people are so divided it’s all but impossible to oppose the government.
Decentralized social media might be better, at least for now. But it’s still removing the human element from our lives. Instead of talking to each other we create little echo chambers for ourselves. The Fediverse will not fix that.
The only real solution is to reject social media entirely. Which was happening, but now I fear decentralized social media is pulling people back in.
It’s a dopamine versus serotonin issue. People think they want to be happy, but that longing is more for purpose. Eating ice cream can make you happy, but learning to cook your own meals makes you a more component being able to provide for yourself and those around you.
Most modern luxuries are basically Skinner boxes at this point monetized in some way to keep us staring at it or consuming it.
We doom scroll at the expense of relationship building.
We door dash instead of have community gardens.
Instant gratification isn’t always and intrinsically bad, but the more the default it becomes, the less patient and competent people become.
Then you pile on decades of American exceptionalism and actively encouraging selfishness at the expense of a functioning society and the present state of things is hardly surprising.