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We need research because we’re not running an experiment globally. An experiment would involve a randomly selected treatment and control group. I’m guessing it
by Gimpei 2y ago
We need research because we’re not running an experiment globally. An experiment would involve a randomly selected treatment and control group. I’m guessing it seems obvious to you that social media is responsible for a wide array of ills. But, as a researcher, I can’t trust what is “obvious”. Because a lot of things that have seemed obvious have ended up being wrong such as leeches as a treatment for illness, or that the earth is flat. And there certainly have been quite a few confounds over the past twenty years: the financial crisis, the pandemic, deindustrialization brought about by China’s rise, the fracturing of the news media in general, and on and on. Which is to say that I don’t care what your identity is; I care what evidence you have. Because without evidence all we have is our gut, and history has shown that the gut isn’t a very good indication of truth.
- mindslight 2y agoYou're right. That was a poor lead in on my part, a moment of weakness making me contribute to the same trend I'm bemoaning. Subjective perspectives of how things are (no matter how obvious or thoughtfully analyzed), is not a substitute for diligently trying to tease out effects in formal contexts. The source of my dismissiveness was looking at the larger context - it feels like "social media" and its "algorithms" is actually one small part of the memetic problems we're facing. They may have helped prime the pump, and if centralized infokontrol had been nipped in the bud fifteen years ago then perhaps things wouldn't have devolved this much. But where we are now the polarization and anti-intellectualism seems pretty self-sustaining regardless.
- TheNewsIsHere 2y ago[dead]