Social Media: It's All Fake News - Even That News You Shared, That Proves the Thing, Because It's Backed Up By a Credible Expert, is Fake.

Social Media profiles need a peer based rating system that locks you out for 30 days
if your feed is one long stream of depressing boredom that bums everyone out.

I don't watch or read the news anymore (mainstream or otherwise). From time to time, if something filters through that piques my interest, I'll take a bit of a dive to find out more. The recent US election is a good example. I even wrote a few opinion pieces in this blog.

The Daily Show Is Not News

Note that I don't count The Daily Show as news, because I did watch quite a lot of that during the US election. While they lean quite a bit toward the left overall, it's not a show you look to for context, since much of their humor is based on reframing context to get a laugh.

The one thing The Daily Show does well is highlight how both Liberal and Right wing media latch onto one or two bullet point messages each day and run them through the mouths of every on screen commentator like they're all wind up parrots instead of sentient beings with their own thoughts and ideas.

But I digress. My point is, when I do dive into the news, I try to go as close to the source as possible. 

Using the US election again, as an example, the two Presidential debates. I could've just listened to the reported highlights, but I didn't, I watched the full debates.

Which was well worth doing because the reports on the Kamala/Trump debate were dismally inaccurate from both sides, but mostly from the Left. I'm not a Trump supporter, but aside from the 'eating the dogs and the cats' sound bite, I thought Trump held his own for the most part.

Fake News

Thanks, largely to Trump, we have this thing called 'fake news', where any reporting you don't agree with is said to be untrue, misreported, or 'fake'.

Saying it's fake is not necessarily wrong either. Left and Right wing media often tries to report opinion like it's fact, when it isn't, and they know it isn't. They just need the headline to stick because it serves their agenda. Which is probably to sell advertising space, or trying to please some higher up or sponsor who's made substantial donations to their 'friends in politics'.

I Don't Care About Your 'Credible Sources'

I don't really trust any news reporting anymore. Including that report you shared on your social media proving that the thing was a lie according to this research paper written by this credible source.

People share those reports because they know the average person isn't going to fact check them at all. Quite often the people that write those reports didn't fact check the research either, or, if they did, they've done their best to put the required spin on it for their purpose.

Don't believe me, go and fact check some of the things you're sharing. Maybe some of it will turn out to be sound but, more often than not, it isn't. However you're not going to know because you either don't have the time to fact check everything, or you can't be bothered because the headline supports that thing you think is 'fake news' as being 'fake news', and that's what matters most.

There's No Such Thing As 'Big Government'

While we're here... can I highlight the use of the term 'Big <insert generic industry here>' is a clear indication the source is not in any way intelligent or credible. 'Big Pharma', 'Big Business', 'Big Tech', 'Big Macs'.

I especially dislike the term 'Big Government,' which I'm seeing more and more. There is no such thing as 'Big Government'. It's just 'The Government'. There aren't smaller, 'Mom and Pop' competing governments making the laws along side The Government that runs each country. There's just the one government. It's size is irrelevant.

'Big Government' isn't pushing out all the local 'Mom and Pop' Governments.

Just stop it. Real reporting has the balls to name actual, specific organizations. It's like 'the war on terror'. By not naming any specific groups, that propaganda got milked for almost two decades, because any group could potentially be called a terrorist organization.

Social Media Is Mostly Depressing

Anyway, this opinion piece you're reading, that may all be true (do your own research people, and wake up from being one of the 'brainwashed' sheeple - that's what you all like to say isn't it), was inspired by the dreary place social media has become.

My Facebook feed is filled with political activists who think raising awareness amongst their friends (who don't give a shit as evidence by the almost zero engagement on their shared posts) is important work in the same forum where other friends are posting cryptic messages about how they're so much better than their dysfunctional ex and their inability to raise their kid right.

Threads is somehow filled with insecure artists all complaining how their artwork is bad, and they can't sell or get commissions, or that they probably should just give up on art? All these people were automatically followed by me because, somehow, I started following them first on Instagram, before Threads was a thing. I definitely liked them all better on Instagram where I could see their art and completely bypass their incessant, insecure, attention whining.

Linked In even, is filled with post after post of employer/employee/freelancer moral stories of how everything went wrong because you didn't do this one thing that can increase your success by... I don't know 200%? And then let's all share our horror stories of that one client who expected unlimited revisions on a job that you did as a favor at mates rates (or something that probably undervalued your worth).

And then, if you go down even one slightly negative rabbit hole on YouTube, all your suggested videos go to shit, and you're served up a plethora of negativity on the same subject that you can only fix by spending a few days telling YouTube to stop recommending those negative channels.  

Peer Rated Social Media Profiles

Currently Australia is trying to create protective laws around social media that will ban young people aged 16 and under from using it, while trying to back door yet another national id scheme on us, and pushing through some laws against posting 'fake news' that is a complete waste of time, and probably already covered under defamation laws.

What I would like to see is a profile rating system on each platform where your peers (basically anyone who is served up the shit you post) can rate how much you're bumming everyone else out with your negative, depressing stream.

If your rating falls below a certain level, you get locked out of your account for thirty days, so you can get out in the real world, get some sun on your face, and cheer up. You clearly need the break.

Social Media enforced 'outside' time. Get away from your screens people!

Obviously something like that could be bombed with the whole internet voting you down, so maybe voting will be limited to people within a certain circle of your friend/followers list. Or voting could be randomized so that the algorithm decides randomly who and when people vote. This would definitely stop people from piling on votes like they do with movie ratings sites like Rotten Tomatoes.

I don't know. Just cheer up people.

Big Stupid

Obviously you're free to read, believe, and post what you like (except for you flat Earthers - you're just saying that to annoy people - stop it!). However, do me a favor, and balance out your posts with good news, success stories, and things you actually like and enjoy.

No one wants to read one long stream of politics, religion, war, how shit your ex is, or how 'big stupid' is dumbing down society (except it's not dumbing down you, because you're the only one who's 'awake'... but are you? Really?).

Rant post over. At least I'm aware, nobody really cares what I think!

All Images: Prompted by TET using PicLumen AI