this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2023
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A Boring Dystopia
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Two things I can see.
Life in the developed world getting tougher and the middle class is shrinking
Social media seems to make people unhappier and angrier
Major Depression was epidemic in the US back in the 90s, which prompted the SSRI boom. The problem was that few were ready to acknowledge the toxicity of normal post-industrial life, especially as the Soviet Union was collapsing and Reagan and George H. W. Bush were deregulating the work environment bact to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
So yes, the dissolution of the middle class and rise of wealth desparity were already concerns, but social media wasn't yet a factor. This isn't to say it's not a factor today, especially when we use social media as an alternative to actual social contact.
The psychiatric sector is now recognizing we can't treat people using the standard medical model, assuming people can be treated while still in a toxic home and work environment. It would be like treating a kid for asthma while he was living in the Los Angeles smog crisis; there's a limit to how much treatment can help in those circumstances.
Is it something inherent to social media that's doing that, or is it the toxic algorithms designed to drive "engagement" and ad impressions that used by commercial social media that's doing that?
The algos, ads and click-bait engagement economy exacerbate the problem, what is a consequence of the profit driven nature of current platforms.
A big factor is the replacement of actual social contact with social media. We need to get actually interpersonal once a week or so. Some of us need hugs or dancing or meals together, and the current overworked society doesn't really allow for this kind of engagement in its time constraints.
It's like living on fast food, rather than home-cooked meals.