Social media too "ghastly" for us to monitor

[Eldorado 39,268]

"Social media content is too “ghastly” to be monitored by humans, the British inventor of the web has said.

"Tim Berners-Lee warned that sifting through harmful and dangerous online content was an “awful job to do” that left people “changed” by the things they saw.

"His comments come as the 64-year-old, who is seen as the father of the modern internet, called for a “mid-course correction” from Governments and tech giants to prevent the web “plunging towards things which could be really bad.”"

At the Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/18/social-media-content-ghastly-humans-monitor-tim-berners-lee/

[and then 36,257]

It is the home of great knowledge and has the potential to be the greatest tool for sharing productive knowledge that humanity has ever created.  Unfortunately, it also stands as a conduit for the most perverted imaginings of man.  That's just the way it is with human beings.  It's always dark vs light because at our essence that is our choice.  It's what we are.  

Just to be clear, I was speaking of the internet in general.  Social Media in its current form has NO redeeming value whatever.  It brings out the worst in most people.  It's a blight.

Edited November 18 by and then

[OverSword 43,525]

Governments should not have the power to censor the internet outside of existing laws such as *** Blocked ***ography or using it to hire hit men.

[susieice 25,277]

46 minutes ago, and then said:

Social Media in its current form has NO redeeming value whatever.  It brings out the worst in most people.  It's a blight.

Kind of how I feel too. People are truly nasty anymore.

[OverSword 43,525]

8 minutes ago, susieice said:

Kind of how I feel too. People are truly nasty anymore.

So should the government intervene and make us nicer?

[susieice 25,277]

Just now, OverSword said:

So should the government intervene and make us nicer?

I don't think that's something they really can do. Censorship won't work. Personal choices should dictate someone's social media activity. Just block people who are promoting nonsense.

[spartan max2 10,467]

The internet is like the printing press. 

An invention that allowed people to share their thoughts and ideas at a new level. 

The internet should be censored the same amount that we censor books - which should be not at all. 

Edited November 18 by spartan max2

[Desertrat56 6,024]

20 minutes ago, OverSword said:

So should the government intervene and make us nicer?

I think, like expecting teachers to teach our children manners, it is excessively lazy to think the government should be the one to clean it up.  Monitoring what our children see on the internet should be our job as parents.  There are tools for that, my daughter uses them.  They aren't just tools to keep kids from buying crap on minecraft, there are tools that block certain content from a child's device or login.  We need more, easier to use tools, but it is up to us to install them and use them.

[Aaron2016 953]

Remember when we got our education from special newsreels.  Those were the days.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 18 by Aaron2016

[and then 36,257]

1 hour ago, OverSword said:

Governments should not have the power to censor the internet outside of existing laws such as *** Blocked ***ography or using it to hire hit men.

I agree.  What is happening in this medium as it evolves is disturbing because it's a reflection of the state of our sense of morality and our declining desire or ability to restrain our baser natures.  It's all on display and it's ugly.  No point in hiding it but that doesn't mean all of it has value.  Some, maybe most, is simply toxic and destructive.

[susieice 25,277]

7 minutes ago, Aaron2016 said:

Remember when we got our education from special newsreels.  Those were the days.

 

 

 

 

Now that should be censored. 

[Dumbledore the Awesome 45,893]

Quote

  So should the government intervene and make us nicer?

Surely that's a built-in contradiction. 

Edited November 19 by Dumbledore the Awesome

[Dumbledore the Awesome 45,893]

9 hours ago, OverSword said:

10 hours ago, and then said:

Social Media in its current form has NO redeeming value whatever.  It brings out the worst in most people.  It's a blight.

 

But but! 

How would we be able to share the thoughts of the Leader?  

Edited November 19 by Dumbledore the Awesome

[ExpandMyMind 12,197]

On 11/18/2019 at 9:33 PM, and then said:

Social Media in its current form has NO redeeming value whatever.  It brings out the worst in most people.  It's a blight.

You've just posted that comment on a social media site. What do you think UM is?

And it really depends on the site. Places like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit can be cancer, but they can also be incredibly inspiring. So many times I've read a comment on Reddit from someone dying who wants to see the new Star Wars before they're gone, to see a Disney or HBO or whatever employee go ahead and set it up. 

The benefits far outweigh the negatives, as I think I posted not too long ago.

[Dumbledore the Awesome 45,893]

 

 

13 hours ago, ExpandMyMind said:

You've just posted that comment on a social media site. What do you think UM is?

And it really depends on the site. Places like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit can be cancer, but they can also be incredibly inspiring. So many times I've read a comment on Reddit from someone dying who wants to see the new Star Wars before they're gone, to see a Disney or HBO or whatever employee go ahead and set it up. 

The benefits far outweigh the negatives, as I think I posted not too long ago.

I think the facebook can often be useful for groups to keep in touch and so on, while the Twitter is simply unfiltered stream of consciousness thought isn't it. whatever people are thinking about at that particular moment, isn't it. 

[ExpandMyMind 12,197]

13 minutes ago, Dumbledore the Awesome said:

 

 

I think the facebook can often be useful for groups to keep in touch and so on, while the Twitter is simply unfiltered stream of consciousness thought isn't it. whatever people are thinking about at that particular moment, isn't it. 

Yeah, Facebook does have more of a community feel about it because you're likely to know your contacts on it personally, while Twitter is more impersonal. This being said, this actually might make it worse when you see your grannie quoting Mein Kampf instead of a random stranger. And I've seen a lot of truly mental posts from people I know personally, which is one reason that I deleted it. 

[Desertrat56 6,024]

I don't like twitter or facebook but at least on facebook you can unfriend people or if you don't want to unfriend a relative but want to keep from seeing their crazy or annoying posts you can unfollow them.  I quit facebook because of what they do with our data AND because of all the stupid ads that get added to the feed.  They have ads on the sidebar so there should be no excuse for putting more ads in the feed.

Right now this is the only social media I log on to.  I did log on to twitter this morning for a survey about what NY Times posts. But I didn't stay logged on long.

[Ozfactor 1,404]

https://www.dw.com/en/web-inventor-tim-berners-lee-unveils-plan-to-save-the-internet/a-51395985

Thirty years after he invented the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee has released what he calls a "roadmap to build a better web." His plan aims to halt abuse of the internet by governments, companies and individuals.

"If we don't act now — and act together — to prevent the web being misused by those who want to exploit, divide and undermine, we are at risk of squandering" its potential for good, Berners-Lee said in a statement released by the WWW Foundation on Monday.

 

"The web needs radical intervention from all those who have power over its future," Berners-Lee wrote in a statement published Sunday night by the The New York Times.

"We're at a tipping point. How we respond to this abuse will determine whether the web lives up to its potential as a global force for good or leads us into a digital dystopia."