“Social media is a d*ug” vol 1

If you have time, I recommend watching a movie like “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix.
Where different former top managers of various internet services example: Google, the programmers of the early days of Instagram, the very important nose of Facebook and also Pinterest, etc., talk.
They tell how these programs are actually created and how they work (although today no one can fully understand these programs).

You can find the trailer for this documentary here.

The picture is from here.

This movie is actually several years old (released in 2020). I have been thinking about the point of this film for many years.
I actually have a similar post written in drafts on this topic – how I’ve found solutions for anxiety and excessive screen consumption. I will probably make it public soon.
But until then, I wrote down the thoughts and observations that came to mind while watching this movie.
All sentences in quotation marks are from The Social Dilemma movie.

If this topic speaks to you at all, I would be happy to hear your thoughts in the comment box below the post.

Algorithms recommend to you those things that computer programs have found interesting based on your views, likes, and comments.
In other words, even if you have a friend with whom you otherwise have the same interests, you still see different things on the screen, and different perspectives on topics, because the algorithms programmed by computers are different for you as a personality.

🤯 essentially, no matter what you search for on Google or the vastness of the net, you will get the answer exactly as you have set the search wording.
BUT this is often not the true answer. For example, when you search for “Climate change” in different parts of the world and also in Europe, you will get completely different answers.
In other words, you are being fed the wrong facts.
Since these false facts appear everywhere and all comments, videos and pictures are based on them, in the end, you get the impression and a strong gut feeling that this is the most correct fact.

“There’s a study, an MIT study, that fake news on Twitter spreads six times faster than true news”.

“We’ve created a system that biases towards false information. Not because we want to, but because false information makes the companies more money than the truth. The truth is boring.”
The programs are set up as if they are very powerful rabbit holes that pull you into them.
In other words, the “proposed topic” would be so interesting for you that you keep scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. And it seems endless to you. And at the same time, it is super interesting. It’s so interesting that you don’t have time to go to the water, drink water, eat, let alone go outside.
“It’s a disinformation-for-profit business model. You make money the more you allow unregulated messages to reach anyone for the best price.”

This is what I feel is happening in my life more and more as the year goes on.
That I have completely lost control over my free time and mental health.
This is controlled by the screen and what I see there.

DuckDuckGo and Qwant

After watching this movie, I downloaded DuckDuckGo (on both phone and PC) and Qwant (on the phone) as web browsers.
Both are free!
Both are search engines that do not save or abuse your data and searches like Google does.
To date, I have used DuckDuckGo for a week. I feel like I picked it up rather quickly.
In its look, it reminds a little of Google from somewhere 10-15 years ago.

Here are some DuckDuckGo pros and cons (that I noticed when using it myself):

Pros

DuckDuckGo automatically blocks as many cookie requests as the visited website allows (the rest you have to refuse manually).
For example, in a week, DuckDuckGo has blocked 987 tracking attempts on my computer. And it’s free.
Additional note – sometimes you still have to indicate your preferences for the use of cookies yourself. It depends on the page you are on and which cookie collection program the page uses.
In addition, it also has distraction-free YouTube. Also free.
You still use normal YouTube, just click the DuckDuckGo icon next to the video to watch the ad-free video. The video will then open in a new tab without ads and other YouTube widgets.
I’m very used to it already. When I sometimes watch a video from the YouTube app on my phone, it’s quite unusual that why does an advertisement suddenly plays? 😄

Side note- because I like to support content creators with likes, I open the video on YouTube, click like, and then open the video via DuckDuckGo.
The search engine does not use your location, so the search engine answers are global.
I will give an example. You want to buy a new thermos. You put the desired words into the search engine. And the answer comes from global pages.
You can indicate during the search that your location is where you are. In other words, if you mark your location with a checkmark (the button immediately below the search engine), it will show local pages.

Cons

DuckDuckGo is quite slow at times. I don’t know if it’s because it automatically blocks ads when you go to the page and it takes time to set it up, or if it’s the nature of DuckDuckGo.
Sometimes, when I’m really in a hurry, it’s annoying.
Since I have consciously started to live as slow a life as possible, this is a bonus for me :D. Because it slows the pace down a bit.
The tabs at the top of the web browser are narrower, which is a bit unusual (Google has them wider). But in a few days, I got used to it.
What bothers me is that the web pages are initially one size, if you click on the tab, it becomes wider.
If you need to visit several tabs at the same time (you click on one and then another), the automatic shortening and widening of these tabs is annoying. I have repeatedly closed the tab accidentally.
The print settings and print preview are different from Google Chrome.
The print preview is a bit too big. But I’ll probably get used to it with time.
If what I want to change in the settings is not available on DuckDuckGo, I have used Google Chrome.
DuckDuckGo search engine does not have as many answers as Google search engine.
Sometimes, when I’m looking for something specific, I use the Google search engine.
Emoticons cannot be added to text by right mouse click.
I’m probably too used to Google Chrome’s option, that when I’m on the computer and clicking the right mouse button, a pop-up menu appears on the screen from which you can choose emoticons. DuckDuckGo doesn’t have it (emoticons). It’s such a small thing, but I miss it. It turns out that I used this opportunity more than I knew :D.

In summary
After using DuckDuckGo for a week, I find that I will continue to use it.
DuckDuckGo definitely has plenty of downsides for some people.
However, I want to consciously change my internet and social media behavior, the disadvantages of DuckDuckGo are actually advantages (slowness) for me.

Also, if I can keep €10 and not feed Google with it, it’s an absolute pleasure. By that I mean watching YouTube videos without ads.

And here is a good article about Google vs DuckDuckGo. https://www.pcworld.com/article/708188/switch-from-google-to-duckduckgo-private-search.html

So are social media and search engines really that bad?

I emphasize here that I do not think that the internet and these apps are completely bad. Absolutely not! Today we have so many opportunities to improve our knowledge thanks to the internet and also to communicate with like-minded people. But the line between right and wrong has almost completely disappeared.
As time goes on, it becomes more difficult to distinguish whether the original source of information is true, or if it is someone’s opinion that is supported by hundreds of thousands of people and is therefore believed to be the correct opinion.

“How do you wake up from the matrix when you don’t know you’re in the matrix?”

“The way the technology works is not a law of physics. It is not set in stone. These are choices that human beings like myself have been making. And human beings can change those technologies.”
Do you want to be a product?
“Essentially, you vote with your clicks.”