Quite a depressing thread, but some sensible advice in there too.
Surely the backlash against social media just grows in momentum? I can't really see how social media survives long-term. I can see how substack (or something like it) survives tho (which has a sort of social aspect with comments and interlinking of other blogs.)
Which is why I'm putting all my nostr shares into the #alexandria project
Indeed, whole generations growing up on what are effectively soundbites rather than anything in depth is not great.
But there is a general unease and acknowledgment of it.
I can imagine a resurgence in library usage, books generally, especially on paper.
I wonder if you could have a library with an optional social aspect. You go to a library, take out a book, want to discuss it. You can a qr code to see discussion from other local library users (or region-wide, or countrywide). I personally probably wouldn't use this but I think if social media continues to exist it will revolve around things like books, longreads and the local.
Yeah I probably wouldn’t use it either but I do like the idea. Those who read a variety of books and conduct deep research around a topic will always have an edge and even more so if they take the time to debate with others equally well read. Very hard to convey this knowledge in short form online.
My local library used to have people meeting up to play chess too, doesn't seem to happen much anymore. Also tied in with libraries turning into less library-ish spaces, lack of funding, poor stock of books (sometimes they'll have the latest book-slop but don't have some basic classics, literature, philosophy etc).
But yeah imagine a social media that you have to physically clock into the library once in a while to use. Perhaps with chess online lol, but even better in-person, meetings, book clubs and what not. Something like this would be amazing.
I know this happens already, but I mean if this was on a bigger scale.
Yep would be awesome. And with a coffee too. It’s seems to be looked down upon on here but when I studied for my degree and masters the highlight was always spending time in the uni libraries. Aberystwyth’s national one was utterly amazing.
Unfortunately most libraries are very unlibrary-ish now. There is no real understanding that study spaces need to be quiet, that they're not just a place to charge your phone, play music off your phone, have a shouty speakerphone conversation on your phone etc lol.
Maybe that's another idea. A place like libraries but for loud people who just want to sit and use their phone and shout about nothing.
That's why we're adding communities to #Alexandria. Then you can have book clubs.
tldr
🤞. bio hacking books. 
Most books aren't worth reading and brevity is a feature of social media, not a drawback.
I don't think anyone would disagree with this.. no one is arguing for reading all/any books. Is social media worth reading at all?
Some of it is. Importantly social media allows for a reasonably quick back and forth on even terms that a blog doesn't really allow for. The quality of that discussion is of course dependent on the userbase.
If we take lesswrong, the rationalist/ EA blog famous for Roko's Basilisk that brought Grimes and Musk together as an example, Yud spent years growing a cult of sycophants for his bs ideas on AI risk. Now that he's taken it to the arena of social media, people have been taking him apart in a way that never happened on his site (that he could of course ban you from).
Forums are better for these discussions, but they're also basically dead thanks to reddit.
Yes, I was almost going to make an addendum, I do t think social media is all bad /worthless either. Mostly bad, but that is sort of the situation with anything lol. I think social media usage (including my own lol) is far too excessive compared to the benefits.
Reddit (mostly) killing forums is a crisis lol. I'm glad some have survived tho, and pockets of the internet see it as preferable. I'd love to see a return.
Are forums 'social media'? 🤔 I think they sort of are/were.
Yeah I think anything that has regular user generated content e.g, forum, BBS, newsgroup etc is social media, whereas blogs, news websites, netflix etc are not.
It's always funny when they show those studies that say "actually social media isn't harmful at all" and I think hmm, it seems to have literally destroyed all social occasions. I never use social media on my phone so end up staring at the back of peoples phones.
